2.  ./A  ./6 


'^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  0/ 


Purchased   by  the   Hamill    Missionary   Fund, 


BV  3445TW3~19T5~ ^~~^ 

^18?3-^^^'  Samuel  Hayman, 

Campaigning  for  Christ  in 
Japan  "^^ 


( 


n 
/■ 


Campaigning  for 
Christ  in  Japan 


By 
REV.  S.  H.  WAINRIGHT,  M.D.,  D.D. 

Missionary  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 

General  Secretar:}  of  the  Christian  Lit-- 

erature  SoeietS  of  t/apan 


Nashville,  Tenn. 

Dallas,  Tex.;  Richmond,  Va. 

Publishing  House  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  South 

Smith  &  Lamar,  Agents 

IQIS 


Copyright,  1915 

BY 

Smith  &  Lamar 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Introduction 5 

Fresh   Stores   of   Spiritual  Force   Claimed   by 

Corporate  Action   9 

Campaign  in  Okayama  Prefecture. 

I.  The  Stone  of  Persecution  at  Takahashi 20 

II.  Breakdown  of  Bushido  Morality  Proclaimed.  25 

III.  A  Merciful  Physician  at  Kasaoka 29 

IV.  A  Night  with  the  Mayor  of  Kurashiki 33 

V.  A  Young  Man's  Prayer  Answered  after  His 

Death   37 

VI.  The  Close  of  the  Campaign  at  Okayama 42 

Campaign  on  the  Northwest  Coast  of  Japan. 

I.  A  Fervent  Meeting  for  "Ethical  Culture". . .  47 

II.  A  Second  Visit  to  the  Northwest  Coast 59 

III.  All  Things  Lost  and  the  Best  Thing  Gained.  64 

IV.  The  Church  in  the  Country  Town 68 

V.  Conservative  Niigata  Beginning  to  Change.  71 

Campaign  at  Shidzuoka,  Hamamatsu,  and  Kega. 

I.  On  the  Shores  of  the  Great  Ocean 77 

II.  The  Sabbath  the  Corner  Stone  of  Civiliza- 
tion    85 

(3) 


4  Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

Campaign  in  Three  Prefectures. 

Hiroshima.  p^^^ 

I.  Tribal  Consciousness  and  Consciousness  of 

Sonship  89 

II,  The  Fall  of  the  Devil's  Castle 94 

III.  Coming  Again  with  Rejoicing 99 

IV.  An  Oregon  Ward  in  a  Japanese  Hospital. . .  106 
V.  A  Converted  Publican  in  the  Pastorate 110 

VI.  Preaching  in  a  Railway  Station 115 

VII.  "No  Pleasure  in  Ambiguity" 119 

VIII.  Enthusiasm  for  Christ  among  Students. . . .  123 

Yokohavia. 
"Apart  from  Christ,  No  True  Individual". . .  126 

Tokyo. 

I.  A  Preparatory  Meeting  in  Tokyo 133 

II.  Preaching  at  Vanity  Fair 139 

III.  The  Quaker  Testimony  in  Tokyo 145 

IV.  From  a  Buddhist  Carnival  to  a  Christian 

Rally 148 

V.  A  Lopsided  State  of  Society 155 

VI.  A    Buddhist   Priest    Converted    Because    a 

Christian  Scrubbed  His  Back 158 

VII.  The  Mayor  of  Tokyo  on  the  Need  of  Spir- 
itual Civilization  162 


INTRODUCTION. 

Dr.  Wainright  has  done  for  the  Church 
a  good  and  timely  service  in  this  book.  Japan 
has  not  held  the  place  in  the  imagination  of  the 
Church  at  home  for  the  last  fifteen  years  that 
she  held  before  or  that  some  other  great  mis- 
sion fields  have  held.  After  the  first  wild  surge 
of  interest  in  Western  life,  there  had  come  the 
slack,  maybe  the  ebb;  and  some  have  even 
thought  and  said  that  the  Church's  opportu- 
nity in  Japan  was  lost  for  a  generation,  for  a 
century,  if  not  for  all  time.  But  missionaries 
have  insisted  that  this  was  not  true  and  that 
perhaps  the  heart  of  the  nation  never  was  wider 
open  to  the  gospel  than  now.  Missionary  sec- 
retaries and  other  leaders  traveling  through 
the  East  have  come  back  to  remind  us  and 
earnestly  to  insist  that  Japan  still  holds  the 
key  to  the  Orient ;  that  as  Japan  goes,  so  goes 
the  East;  and  if  we  hope  to  win  Korea  and 
China  and  to  hold  them  for  Christ,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  we  advance  at  once  upon  Japan. 

This  conviction  is  shared  by  the  Japanese 
leaders  themselves  and  moved  them  to  definite 
action  when  in  the  meeting  in  Tokyo,  held  by 

(5) 


6         Campaigning  for  Christ  m  Japan, 

Dr.  Mott  in  April  of  1913  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Continuation  Committee  of  the  Edin- 
burgh Conference,  some  of  these  leaders  offered 
a  resolution  calling  for  "a  great  forward  move- 
ment among  the  Churches  with  a  view  to  a  na- 
tion-wide preaching  of  the  gospel."  One  of  the 
objects  of  this  forward  movement  was  to  be  a 
"widespread  presentation  of  gospel  truth  to  the 
whole  non-Christian  community."  A  great  evan- 
gelistic campaign  was  planned  and  carried  out 
with  remarkable  efficiency;  and  while  it  was 
not  characterized  by  the  spectacular  features 
throughout  that  characterized  a  somewhat  simi- 
lar movement  in  China,  it  was  not  without  real 
Pentecostal  tokens ;  and  the  meetings  were  ev- 
erywhere attended  with  such  interest,  such 
depth  of  concern  and  thoughtfulness  on  the 
part  of  the  people  as  certainly  foretoken  yet 
greater  manifestations  in  the  immediate  future. 
Dr.  Wainright,  who  for  many  years  was  one 
of  our  very  best  missionaries  to  Japan,  who 
knows  the  language  and  people  as  few  mission- 
aries ever  come  to  know  them,  and  who,  after 
a  few  years'  stay  in  the  homeland,  now  returns 
to  Japan  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Christian 
Literature  Society  of  Japan,  wrought  in  that 
campaign   throughout   and  tells   the  story   in 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,  T 

this  book  with  such  naturalness,  such  detail, 
and  jet  such  vividness  of  interest  as  will  at- 
tract the  reader  and  communicate  to  him  the 
conviction  of  the  author,  who  in  a  recent  private 
note  said :  "It  is  our  profound  conviction  that  it 
is  about  time  Japan  should  have  an  inning  as 
regards  the  interest  the  Church  has  in  the  fields 
where  its  missions  are  enterprised."  It  is  time, 
and  this  interesting  story  of  Dr.  Wainright's 
should  hasten  that  consummation  in  the  hearts 
of  thousands  of  our  people  in  every  part  of  the 
Church.  E.  H.  Rawlings. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  October  12,  1915. 


FRESH  STORES  OF  SPIRITUAL  FORCE 
CLAIMED  BY  CORPORATE  ACTION. 

A  CONFERENCE  was  held  in  Tokyo,  Japan, 
April  3-11,  1913,  under  the  direction  of  Dr. 
John  R.  Mott.  It  was  one  of  a  series  of  con- 
ferences conducted  by  him  in  various  mission 
fields  under  the  auspices  of  the  Continuation 
Committee  of  the  Edinburgh  Missionary  Con- 
ference. There  were  present  at  the  conference 
in  Tokyo  representatives  of  the  Japanese 
Churches  and  of  the  various  Protestant  mis- 
sionary bodies  working  in  Japan.  Rev.  Bish- 
op Serge,  of  the  Russian  Orthodox  Mission  in 
Japan,  also  attended  the  sessions  and  took  some 
part  in  the  discussions. 

The  conference  had  only  advisory  powers 
and  included  in  the  program  outlined  nothing 
more  than  the  adoption  of  findings  concerning 
various  mission  problems,  after  deliberation  in 
conference  and  discussion  in  committees.  An 
unexpected  resolution,  however,  was  brought 
forward  by  the  Japanese  members  present,  call- 
ing for  a  great  forward  movement  among  the 
Churches  with  a  view  to  a  nation-wide  preach- 

(9) 


10        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

ing  of  the  gospel.  The  resolution  called  for 
(1)  a  deeper  and  more  exultant  experience  of 
the  life  of  Christ  in  the  individual  soul,  result- 
ing in  more  earnest  efforts  to  lead  others  to 
the  Saviour;  (2)  a  widespread  presentation  of 
gospel  truth  to  the  whole  non-Christian  com- 
munity. 

The  conference  heartily  approved  of  the  pro- 
posal, though  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
deliberations  at  Tokyo  did  not  unite  in  the 
campaign  when  it  was  inaugurated.  Still,  the 
movement  embraced  the  great  majority  of  Prot- 
estant bodies,  both  Japanese  Churches  and  mis- 
sion organizations,  and  was  undertaken  as  a 
united  effort.  The  Edinburgh  Conference,  in 
defining  one  of  the  purposes  for  creating  the 
Continuation  Committee,  declared  that  it  was 
hoped  "by  corporate  action  to  claim  fresh 
stores  of  spiritual  force  for  the  evangelization 
of  the  world."  The  movement  in  Japan  was  in 
accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  action  thus  taken. 
The  original  Continuation  Committee,  it  was 
thought  furthermore,  would  be  a  means  of 
^'keeping  alive  the  vision  and  of  spreading  the 
spirit  and  atmosphere  of  the  Edinburgh  gath- 
ering." At  Tokyo  the  Japanese  members  of 
the  conference  were  not  content  with  the  vision 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        11 

and  the  atmosphere  of  the  mountain  top,  as  ex- 
perienced in  days  of  conference  and  prayer,  but 
were  concerned  as  to  the  welfare  of  the  multi- 
tudes of  their  own  people  upon  the  plain,  vexed 
with  the  evils  from  wliich  Christ  came  to  deliver 
men.  Consequently,  though  not  embraced  with- 
in the  scope  of  the  conference  as  one  of  its  ob- 
jects, the  national  evangelistic  campaign  is  the 
one  outstanding  result  of  the  gathering  in 
Tokyo,  held  on  the  occasion  of  Dr.  Mott's  visit. 
There  seems  to  be  cooperation  between  grace 
and  providence.  The  nation-wide  plan,  formu- 
lated and  adopted  in  the  atmosphere  of  prayer 
and  under  the  gracious  guidance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  was  found  afterwards  to  correspond,  by 
an  adaptation  that  could  not  have  been  acci- 
dental, to  the  need  of  the  nation  as  brought  to 
light  under  the  working  of  providence  in  the 
larger  field  lying  outside  the  Christian  Church. 
About  the  time  the  conference  was  held  in 
Tokyo  a  young  German,  formerly  employed  in 
that  city,  was  being  tried  in  a  court  of  justice 
in  Germany.  It  came  out  during  the  trial  that 
papers  stolen  by  him  in  Tokyo  contained  in- 
formation pointing  to  bribery  practiced  on  a 
great  scale  in  Japanese  naval  circles.  The  mat- 
ter was  taken  up  by  the  Japanese  press  and  be- 


12        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japa7i. 

came  a  national  scandal.  Rev.  M.  Uemura, 
pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  in  Tokyo  and 
one  of  the  foremost  Christians  of  the  empire, 
speaking  at  the  preparatory  meeting  held  at 
Tokyo  for  the  National  Evangelistic  Campaign, 
lamented  that  everywhere  could  be  discerned  the 
existence  of  an  unwholesome  atmosphere.  The 
recent  scandals  in  naval  circles  and  at  the  head 
temple  of  one  of  the  leading  Buddhist  sects 
had  the  effect  of  proclaiming  the  moral  bank- 
ruptcy of  the  Japanese  people.  Over  against 
these  unhappy  conditions,  said  Mr.  Uemura, 
there  stood  the  National  Evangelistic  Cam- 
paign, enterprised  by  the  Christians  at  a  most 
timely  moment — a  movement  in  which  the  mis- 
sionaries from  abroad  and  the  Japanese  pas- 
tors and  workers  representing  various  denomi- 
national bodies  were  leagued  together  for  an 
earnest  effort.  The  influence  of  this  movement 
could  not  but  be  felt  in  the  whole  Far  East  and 
even  in  wider  circles.  For  their  own  encourage- 
ment they  might  well  call  to  mind  the  unshak- 
able conviction  and  abounding  hope  of  the 
prophets  of  Israel  at  the  time  of  the  nation's 
captivity.  Though  their  visions  of  a  coming 
daydawn  were  like  castles  built  in  the  air,  yet 
their  faith  was  such  that  their  dreams  were  as 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        13 

real  to  them  as  tangible  realities  within  their 
reach.  What  the  prophets  achieved  could  not 
be  exhibited  in  statistical  tables.  Their  victo- 
ries were  spiritual.  What  was  needed  in  Japan 
was  something  more  than  committee  organiza- 
tions. Faith  was  essential,  and  a  seriousness  of 
purpose  founded  upon  spiritual  experience  and 
awakening. 

The  method  of  conducting  the  campaign  was 
unlike  the  evangelism  with  which  we  are  fa- 
miliar in  the  American  Churches.  Campaigns 
were  laid  out  for  different  parts  of  the  country, 
usually  by  provinces,  and  to  follow  one  another 
in  succession.  The  local  committees  chose  the 
speakers  they  desired  to  have  visit  their  district, 
and,  if  possible,  the  services  of  these  speakers 
were  engaged  for  them  by  the  central  commit- 
tees. Meetings  were  held  for  two  and  three! 
days  at  each  place,  with  a  change  of  speakers 
each  day,  or  rather  with  an  exchange  of  speak- 
ers; for  while  two  speakers  were  in  one  place 
other  speakers  were  addressing  audiences  in 
a  neighboring  place,  and  every  day  there  was 
a  general  swapping  of  places.  It  was  thus 
that  the  campaign  was  carried  on — a  plan  which 
enabled  the  committee  to  throw  the  leading 
Christians  of  the  empire  into  a  certain  locality, 


14        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

where  they  delivered  addresses  in  homes,  school- 
houses,  theaters,  public  halls,  and  churches. 
Among  the  speakers  were  pastors,  educators, 
members  of  Parliament,  and  business  men.  The 
messages  were  not  always  as  directly  evangel- 
istic as  those  we  hear  in  revival  meetings.  The 
utterances  were  conditioned  by  the  audiences  to 
which  they  were  addressed.  Often  the  greater 
number  of  those  present  had  their  first  experi- 
ence in  listening  to  a  public  presentation  of 
Christian  truth. 

The  results  of  the  work  were  very  encourag- 
ing. The  leading  people  of  the  communities 
visited  were  drawn  out  to  the  meetings  and  lis- 
tened with  interest  to  the  addresses.  Women's 
meetings  were  everywhere  held  as  a  part  of 
the  program  and  were  well  attended.  Hundreds 
and  even  thousands  of  students  in  the  schools 
heard  Christian  preaching  at  students'  meet- 
ings, which  were  in  many  places  held  in  the  pub- 
lic school  buildings.  At  certain  places  working- 
men  were  assembled — at  Moji,  for  example — 
and  as  many  as  two  thousand  attended  the 
Christian  services  held  especially  for  them. 

Though  many  names  were  enrolled  as  inquir- 
ers, the  principal  good  achieved  during  the  first 
year  of  the  campaign  has  been  the  quickening 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        15 

of  the  Churches  and  the  creation  of  a  larger 
opportunity  for  them.  At  places  where  public 
services  were  held  the  Christian  cause  almost 
invariably  gained  favor  with  the  local  commu- 
nity, and  a  desire  was  awakened  in  the  souls  of 
many  for  a  fuller  knowledge  of  the  truths  of 
the  Christian  religion.  The  direct  appeal,  ei- 
ther to  the  deeper  emotions  or  practical  activi- 
ties of  those  present  in  the  audience,  is  absent 
in  Japanese  preaching.  The  traditional  sense 
of  propriety  is  against  the  use  of  the  second 
personal  pronoun ;  and  it  has  not  been  the  cus- 
tom among  the  teachers  of  the  past — Shintolst, 
Buddhist,  or  Confucian — to  aim  their  discourse 
at  the  will,  much  less  to  press  with  the  urgency 
of  evangelistic  zeal  for  an  immediate  decision. 
Moreover,  the  audiences  were  made  up  of  per- 
sons many  of  whom  were  strangers  to  Christian 
truth,  to  whom  an  apologetic  message  had  often 
to  be  delivered. 

Various  themes  were  discussed  by  the  speak- 
ers in  their  approach  to  the  minds  of  their 
hearers.  Sometimes  it  was  the  secular  policy 
of  national  education  and  the  moral  barrenness 
of  this  policy;  sometimes  it  was  the  one-sided 
developm.ent  of  the  new  Japan  in  material  civi- 
lization ;  often  it  was  the  gigantic  evils  growing 


16        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

up  under  the  prevalent  materialism  and  the 
need  of  searching  moral  reforms.  Frequently 
the  speakers  confined  themselves  to  a  presenta- 
tion of  the  Christian  gospel  or  to  an  exposition 
of  Christian  truth.  Always  the  Christian  reli- 
gion was  defended,  usually  with  earnest  and 
deep  conviction,  as  the  only  hope  for  the  solu- 
tion of  Japan's  great  problem — namely,  the 
promotion  of  a  "spiritual  civilization,"  to  use 
a  term  current  in  Japan.  In  this  present  cam- 
paign preaching  has  been  more  direct  than 
usual,  and,  as  never  before,  Christianity  has 
been  set  forth  as  a  religion  of  redemption.  In- 
deed, the  Japanese  are  beginning  to  see  that  a 
religion  of  redemption  is  not  necessarily  hostile 
to  education  and  culture,  but  may  be  the  only 
enduring  foundation  on  which  education  and 
culture  can  be  established. 

The  writer  qf  the  following  pages  had  some 
part  in  the  campaign,  though  not  an  important 
part,  as  a  member  of  the  various  committees 
and  as  one  of  the  speakers.  He  has  not  under- 
taken here  a  comprehensive  account  of  the 
campaign,  though  such  an  account,  if  prepared, 
would  be  of  interest  outside  of  Japan.  What 
one  will  find  in  the  chapters  which  follow  is 
merely  a  sketch  of  the  movement  as  seen  in  its 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        17 

working  on  various  occasions  and  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  It  is  believed  that  good 
will  come  to  the  Church  in  the  homelands 
through  an  acquaintance  with  this  nation-wide 
movement  and  with  the  leaders  who  are  promi- 
nent in  the  native  Churches  and  who  are  mani- 
festing that  zeal  in  Japan  which  has  charac- 
terized the  labor  and  energy  of  the  faithful  in 
Christ  Jesus  in  all  ages,  from  the  time  the  first 
witnesses  went  forth  from  Jerusalem  in  obedi- 
ence to  our  Lord's  great  commission.  The  ex- 
perience of  Christian  history  has  been  greatly 
enriched  in  our  day  through  new  and  diverse 
unfoldings  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  many 
lands.  The  diversities  of  gifts,  ministrations, 
and  workings  are  but  further  disclosures  of  the 
dispensation  of  the  mystery  hid  for  ages  in 
God. 

And  if  there  be  diversities  of  operations  and 
the  same  spirit,  there  are  also  diversities  of 
operations  within  the  same  body  of  Christ. 
The  campaign  is  a  witness  to  the  non-Chris- 
tian population  of  the  unity  in  variety  among 
the  different  denominational  bodies  working  in 
Japan.  The  weakening  effect  of  denomination- 
alism  on  the  mission  field  is  often  exaggerated. 
The  friendly  relations  existing  among  Prot- 
2 


18        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

estant  denominations  and  the  various  forms  of 
cooperation  undertaken  by  them  serve  to  dis- 
arm criticism  and  to  give  evidence  of  a  true 
conception  of  unity,  a  unity  which  presupposes 
variety  and  is  not  at  the  expense  of  variety. 
A  most  healthy  condition  exists  among  Prot- 
estant bodies  in  Japan  as  regards  the  question 
of  unity.  There  is  a  great  variety  of  friend- 
ly relations  maintained  among  diverse  organi- 
zations, but  comity  is  not  pressed  to  the  point 
of  impracticability. 

One  remark  further  may  not  be  out  of  place, 
inasmuch  as  the  account  may  be  disappoint- 
ing to  some  not  very  familiar  with  conditions 
on  the  mission  field  by  the  circumstance  that  a 
great  united  movement  for  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel  is  under  way,  and  yet  the  number 
of  conversions  reported  at  places  where  serv- 
ices were  held  is  small.  But  it  should  be  kept 
in  mind  by  those  who  wait  and  pray  with  faith 
and  hope  for  the  Christian  transformation  of 
Japan  that  a  gradual  and  even  a  slow  growth 
may  be  a  surer  evidence  of  conversion  than  a 
mass  movement  in  which  the  turning  in  is  by 
multitudes  or  by  villages  and  provinces.  The 
end  sought,  let  it  be  understood,  is  the  trans- 
formation, not  of  Christianity,  but  of  the  peo- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        19 

pie.  The  former  is  the  broad  and  easy  way, 
the  latter  the  straight  and  difficult  path.  Im- 
patience would  counsel  compromise  between  the 
demands  of  Christ  and  the  habits  of  the  past, 
a  certain  understanding  or  concord  between 
Christ  and  Belial.  But  the  missionary  aim  is 
to  connect  the  old  life  with  the  new  religion.  It 
is  not  the  purpose  of  true  evangelism  to  win  an 
easy  victory  by  allowing  old  customs  to  survive 
with  the  new  life. 


CAMPAIGN  IN  OKAYAMA  PREFEC- 
TURE. 

I.  Stone  of  Persecution  at  Takahashi. 

On  May  15  1  left  Tokyo  by  express  train  for 
the  Okayama  Prefecture,  a  district  rich  in  ag- 
riculture and  manufacture  in  Central  West  Ja- 
pan. A  week  had  been  set  apart  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  the  Western  Section  for  meetings  in 
Okayama  and  auxiliary  cities  as  a  part  of  the 
National  Evangelistic  Campaign.  A  number 
of  speakers,  lay  and  clerical,  had  been  drafted 
into  the  service,  two  of  whom  were  assigned  to 
each  public  meeting. 

My  first  service  was  at  Takahashi.  Leaving 
the  main  line  at  Okayama,  I  reached  Tatai  in 
one  hour  by  light  railway,  passing  through 
Inari,  an  important  center  of  superstitious 
worship.  From  Tatai  I  took  a  jinrikisha  and 
followed  the  winding  course  of  the  Takahashi 
River  along  a  picturesque  road,  between  high 
mountains  and  by  the  side  of  a  clear  stream 
flowing  over  a  bed  of  gray  pebbles.  It  was 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  valleys  I  had  ever 
seen.  As  evening  drew  on,  the  valley  a  distance 
ahead  became  lustrous  with  a  silver  mist,  and 
the  crest  of  the  mountains  glowed  with  a  fringe 
of  light  from  the  rays  of  the  declining  sun.  It 
(20) 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        21 

seemed  that  I  was  traveling,  not  toward  the 
old  military  castle  at  Takahashi,  on  the  top 
of  the  highest  summit  there,  but  to  some  en- 
chanted region  with  golden  castles  of  which  the 
Japanese  dream.  Stone  slabs  along  the  way- 
side bearing  the  inscription,  "Gods  of  the 
Land,"  monuments  to  the  noteworthy  dead, 
shrines  and  temples,  and  thatched  cottages,  in 
which  could  be  heard  and  seen  the  domestic 
loom  weaving  matting  for  the  export  trade, 
added  quaintness  to  the  scenes  through  which 
I  passed. 

About  three  miles  this  side  of  Takahashi,  ac- 
cording to  Japanese  custom,  the  pastor  and 
one  of  the  official  members  were  waiting  to 
meet  us.  Professor  Koyama  and  myself;  and  a 
little  farther  on  six  or  seven  members  were  sta- 
tioned to  give  us  a  welcome  to  their  commu- 
nity. No  sooner  were  we  seated  on  the  floor 
in  a  good  Japanese  home,  the  hospitality  of 
which  we  were  to  enjoy,  than  other  members  of 
the  Church  (Congregational)  called  and  ex- 
tended to  us  a  cordial  greeting.  We  found  our- 
selves warmed  to  the  task  by  this  hearty  re- 
ception, assured,  as  we  were,  of  that  sympa- 
thetic hearing  which,  next  to  grace,  has  the 
effect  of  unlocking  the  preacher's  soul.     The 


22        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

bustle  at  the  church  when  we  entered  made  all 
the  more  certain  to  us  the  favorableness  of  our 
opportunity.  Indeed,  the  church  building  was 
filled  by  eight  o'clock.  About  seventy-five  boys 
sat  in  front  on  the  floor.  Every  seat  was  occu- 
pied below  and  in  the  gallery,  while  men  were 
standing  at  the  back  of  the  room  and  outside 
every  window.  When  the  second  message  had 
been  delivered,  it  was  a  quarter  to  eleven 
o'clock,  and  all  had  remained.  In  fact,  no  one 
seemed  to  be  wearied  or  inclined  to  hurry  away. 

I  slept  with  comfort  on  the  floor  between 
padded  quilts,  though  the  sawdust  pillow,  in 
the  form  of  a  cylinder,  was  not  particularly 
restful.  From  the  numerous  kinds  of  fish  and 
delicacies  and  from  the  rice  bowl  I  partook 
with  chopsticks  of  those  things  suited  to  my 
taste,  provided  by  a  generous  hospitality.  The 
host  was  an  intelligent  man,  and  as  a  pastime 
he  cultivated  in  the  inclosed  area,  or  court,  two 
or  three  hundred  pots  of  the  Rhodea  Japonica, 
Some  of  these  were  highly  valued — such,  for 
example,  as  defied  artificial  manipulation  and 
expressed  the  unyielding  energies  of  nature; 
forms  deviating  from  the  normal  type,  or,  in 
other  words,  sports. 

I   remained   over   for   the   service   the   next 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        2^ 

morning  at  eleven  o'clock,  it  being  the  Sabbath. 
To  a  good-sized  congregation  I  spoke  on  the 
theme  of  the  cross.  On  the  platform  behind 
me  there  lay  a  rough  stone  the  size  of  a  man's 
head,  into  which  had  been  chiseled,  in  Japanese, 
"Stone  of  Persecution."  In  the  foundation  of 
the  building  similar  stones  had  been  laid,  gath- 
ered up  after  an  attack  on  the  first  preaching 
place  in  that  community,  which  had  been  de- 
molished with  these  stones.  Now,  leading  men 
in  the  community  were  members  of  the  Church 
and  enjoyed  in  peace  the  word  which  at  first 
they  received  in  much  affliction.  A  theme  like 
that  of  the  cross  of  Christ  would  have  a  pecul- 
iar significance  to  a  congregation  with  a  his- 
tory like  this,  dating  its  first  beginnings  from 
a  time  of  persecution. 

There  were  other  reasons  for  speaking  in  ex- 
altation of  the  cross  on  the  present  occasion. 
In  the  Okayama  Prefecture,  where  the  cam- 
paign we  were  in  had  been  laid,  various  reli- 
gious movements  in  recent  years  had  sprung 
up,  like  weeds  from  neglected  soil.  One  of 
these  movements  is  ruled  by  very  worldly  mo- 
tives. It  is  called  Konkokyo,  or  "Religion  of 
Shining  Gold."  It  seeks,  as  has  so  often  been 
done,  to  beguile  the  religious  instincts  of  man 


24*        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

by  relying  upon  the  satisfactions  of  this  world. 
No  religion,  not  even  Buddhism,  strikes  so  deep 
a  chord  as  did  Christ  when  he  said :  "Whosoever 
will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and 
take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me."  Asceticism  is 
not  cross-bearing.  It  shuns  the  conflict,  while 
Christian  self-denial  sets  its  "face  steadfastly 
to  go  to  Jerusalem."  No  wonder  that  it  was 
far  from  Paul  to  glory,  "save  in  the  cross  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Through  the  cross 
the  world  was  crucified  unto  him  and  he  unto 
the  world.  He  had  determined  to  know  noth- 
ing among  the  Corinthians  "save  Jesus  Christ, 
and  him  crucified."  No  sage  or  philosopher, 
no  "founder"  of  a  religion,  had  ever  faced  hu- 
man woe  or  the  world's  opposition  and  gone 
into  the  depths  of  human  sorrow,  even  into  the 
bitterness  of  death,  as  Christ  had  done.  He 
was  the  suffering  Servant,  who  made  atonement 
for  sins  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself.  The  path 
of  the  cross  is  not  that  of  the  worldling  nor 
that  of  the  recluse.  Jesus  accepted  a  mission, 
the  fulfillment  of  which  required  that  he  give 
himself  over  "to  the  great  game  of  life."  But 
not  for  self-assertion  or  self-pleasure;  he 
pleased  not  himself,  and  he  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        25 

Even  in  the  mountain  districts  in  Japan  one 
finds  everywhere  peaceful  and  lawful  occupa- 
tions of  farms  and  villages.  Wild  life  has  long 
passed  away.  The  next  day,  on  the  return 
journey,  I  met  boatmen  walking  by  the  river 
marge  pulling  their  boats  upstream  by  means 
of  long  ropes,  the  longest  I  had  ever  seen.  In 
their  flat-bottomed  craft  they  had  transported 
the  products  of  village  and  farm  from  the 
mountain  districts  to  the  lowlands,  where  there 
was  connection  with  steamships  and  railway 
trains.  I  met  carts  heavily  loaded  with  an 
artificial  fertilizer,  each  drawn  by  a  single 
horse.  The  animals,  covered  with  perspiration, 
were  cruelly  goaded  to  their  excessive  tasks. 
The  Buddhists  are  fond  of  reminding  us  that 
Christianity  does  not  contain  among  its  pre- 
cepts mercy  toward  the  lower  animals.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  dumb  brutes  fare  far  better  at 
the  hands  of  Christians  than  the  treatment  re- 
ceived by  them  on  the  part  of  Buddhists. 

II.  Breakdown  of  Bushido  Morality 
Proclaimed. 

On  May  18  I  returned  to  Okayama  and  took 
a  light  railway  to  Tsuyama,  a  castle  town  in 
the  hills  on  a  high  plateau,  at  a  distance  of  two 


26        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

hours  by  rail.  Madam  Hirooka,  with  her  valet, 
was  on  the  same  train  and  was  to  be  my  co- 
worker in  the  meetings  at  Tsuyama.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  the  Mitsui  family,  one  of  the 
wealthiest  in  Japan  and  best  known  in  indus- 
trial circles.  She  herself  is  very  wealthy  and 
has  large  investments.  She  was  converted  two 
and  a  half  years  ago  at  the  age  of  sixty-two. 
She  wore  foreign  attire,  including  a  foreign 
hat,  spoke  a  little  broken  English,  and  proved 
to  be  a  most  interesting  companion.  Six  hun- 
dred women  gathered  in  the  church  for  an 
afternoon  meeting  and  listened  with  profound 
interest  and  attention  to  the  addresses,  espe- 
cially to  that  of  Madam  Hirooka.  At  night 
she  told  the  mixed  audience,  which  filled  the 
church  to  the  utmost  capacity,  the  story  of  her 
conversion.  It  was  a  beautiful  testimony  to 
Christ,  related  with  great  simplicity,  the  thank- 
ful expression  of  one  who  felt  that  she  had 
trifled  away  time  and  come  near  losing  heaven 
and  her  own  soul.  In  truth,  I  have  heard  no 
Japanese  Christian  speak  who  had  a  truer  per- 
ception of  the  significance  of  the  word  "grace," 
the  strictest  test  of  one's  understanding  of  the 
genius  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Fortunately,  I  had  chosen  for  my  theme  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        27 

Christian  salvation.  In  the  meetings  in  Japan 
the  J  insist  upon  having  a  subject  for  one's 
sermon,  and  this,  as  well  as  the  name  of  the 
speaker,  is  written  on  a  long  strip  of  paper  in 
perpendicular  vrriting  and  suspended  in  the 
front  of  the  room  where  all  can  read  it.  At 
the  close  of  the  meeting  the  pastor  asked  all 
to  retire  who  wished  to  do  so  during  the  sing- 
ing of  a  hjmn  and  others  to  remain  for  prayer. 
The  solemnity  of  the  moment  was  impressive. 
Scarcely  more  than  ten  persons  left  the  room. 
All  remained  seated.  The  sobs  of  women  could 
be  heard  in  the  audience,  and  the  men  sat  with 
bowed  heads  as  prayer  after  prayer,  such  as 
are  fashioned  by  the  Spirit,  went  up  to  God  for 
those  present,  for  the  community,  and  for  the 
nation. 

Madam  HIrooka  had  a  message  on  her  heart 
born  of  deep  convictions.  She  proclaimed  the 
failure  of  the  Bushido  morality.  The  corrup- 
tions exposed  recently  were  most  scandalous  in 
naval  circles  where  Bushido  was  strongest.  I 
recalled  while  she  was  speaking  a  stupid  arti- 
cle written  by  the  editor  of  the  Hibbert  Journal 
in  praise  of  Bushido  at  the  close  of  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War,  entitled  "Is  the  Moral  Suprem- 
acy   of    Christendom   Threatened?"      Another 


28        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

striking  point  in  her  address  at  Tsuyama  was 
the  warning  she  sounded  that  the  Japanese  peo- 
ple were  in  danger  of  committing  the  error  that 
brought  destruction  upon  the  Jewish  nation. 
"If  we,"  said  Madam  Hirooka,  "continue  to 
regard  ourselves  as  a  peculiar  people  and  fail 
to  embrace  God's  world  religion,  the  nation  can- 
not escape  its  doom." 

With  Kev.  S.  S.  White,  in  whose  quiet  home 
I  received  generous  hospitality  and  who  is  liv- 
ing at  this  outpost  alone,  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren being  absent  in  America,  I  climbed  to  the 
top  of  the  castle  hill  the  next  morning  before 
our  train  left  for  Okayama.  We  passed  by 
walls  of  solid  masonry,  along  a  winding  course 
through  numerous  gateways,  until  we  reached 
the  highest  and  innermost  defenses  of  the  old 
fortress.  What  passions  and  struggles  in  the 
internal  history  of  feudal  Japan  these  castles 
throughout  the  country  bear  witness  to!  Not 
only  so;  the  patient  toil  of  a  subject  popula- 
tion has  left  here  a  monument  to  itself.  What 
a  gigantic  task  to  bring  such  massive  stones 
from  a  distance  and  chisel  them  into  suitable 
forms  and  raise  them  to  their  place  in  the  cas- 
tle walls  on  the  tops  of  high  mountains!  At 
Takahashi   the  castle  was   on   the   crest   of   a 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        29 

mountain  three  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea — a  castle  in  the  air,  an  impregnable 
fortress — reached  only  through  the  winding  ap- 
proach along  the  Takahashi  Valley.  Here  also 
at  Tsuyama,  before  the  days  of  machinery,  a 
mighty  defense  had  been  built,  from  the  walls 
of  which  the  entire  plate  lu  around  Tsuyama 
could  be  seen.  Made  obsolete  by  modern  meth- 
ods of  warfare,  these  massive  structures  now 
remain  simply  as  relics  of  the  past. 

III.  A  MERCiFuii  Physician  at  Kasaoka. 

From  Okayama,  on  May  17,  I  went  to  Ka- 
saoka, an  important  city  by  the  seashore,  the 
shore  of  the  Inland  Sea,  and  on  the  trunk  line 
of  the  Imperial  Government  Hallway.  The  of- 
ficial members  of  the  Churches  were  at  the  sta- 
tion to  show  the  usual  courtesies.  We  re- 
mained for  a  v/hile  at  the  hotel  where  we  were 
to  be  entertained.  Professor  Hino,  of  the 
Doshisha,  was  with  me  to  speak  that  night. 
Nothing  was  left  undone  for  our  comfort. 
That  night  again  the  church  was  filled.  Agciln 
all  listened  without  show  of  weariness  until 
eleven  o'clock.  Many  of  the  prominent  people 
of  the  community,  we  were  told  afterwards, 
were  in  the  audience.     Here  and  there  in  the 


30        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

crowded  house  the  characteristic  robes  of  the 
Buddhist  priesthood  indicated  the  presence  of 
priests.  Some  persons  came  up  afterwards 
from  the  audience  who  could  speak  good  Eng- 
lish and  who  had  spent  many  years  in  the 
United  States.  One  of  these  spoke  of  having 
met  Dwight  L.  Moody  and  Lyman  Abbott. 

It  is  remarkable  how,  with  the  entrance  of 
the  gospel,  the  spirit  of  humanity  begins  to 
manifest  itself.  Doors  of  hope  are  opened  to 
all  classes  of  discouraged  souls.  There  is  some- 
thing as  spontaneous  as  it  is  beautiful  in  Chris- 
tian charity.  In  this  prefecture,  for  example, 
a  Japanese  Christian  became  widely  known  in 
connection  with  an  orphan  asylum,  of  which  he 
was  the  head  until  his  death  recently.  I  refer 
to  the  late  Mr.  Ishii,  of  Okayama.  Here  at 
Kasaoka  Dr.  Sasai  expressed  the  wish  that  I 
would  take  an  interest  in  his  scheme  for  estab- 
lishing a  great  sanitarium  for  those  who  were 
suffering  from  the  white  plague,  a  disease  which 
is  making  ravages  with  the  population  of  Japan. 

I  went  with  Dr.  Sasai  to  the  shore  of  the 
Inland  Sea,  a  body  of  water  remarkable  every- 
where for  delicate  charm  and  beauty  and  for 
the  quaintness  of  its  numerous  islands.  We 
climbed  to  an  elevated  position  on  the  shore. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        31 

There  seemed  to  be  healing  in  a  look  at  the 
calm,  untroubled  waters  stretching  out  before 
us.  In  their  clear  depths,  as  in  a  dream,  there 
appeared  a  reflection  of  sails,  hills,  clouds,  and 
overbending  sky.  A  sampan  passed  along  just 
below  us,  lazily  propelled  by  a  man  standing 
at  the  great  oar,  the  blade  of  which  sweeps  back 
and  forth  on  a  pivot  at  the  stern  and  plows 
deep  into  the  water.  From  where  we  stood  the 
craft  seemed  to  move  along  on  the  surface  with- 
out causing  the  faintest  ripple  in  the  quiet  sea. 
Dr.  Sasai  pointed  to  an  island  not  far  away, 
set  Hke  a  gem  in  the  midst  of  the  scene,  and  re- 
marked that  it  was  his  desire  to  acquire  the 
entire  island  for  the  purpose  he  had  in  mind 
of  developing  a  great  sanitarium.  He  added 
that  the  project  was  the  outcome  of  a  purely 
Christian  motive  on  his  part. 

In  nothing  is  the  Far  East  more  at  one  with 
itself  than  in  the  worship  paid  to  the  departed 
dead.  On  the  top  of  the  hill  from  which  we 
were  looking  the  ground  had  been  leveled  down. 
At  one  end  of  the  space  thus  cleared  there  were 
three  monuments,  raised  in  memory  of  soldiers 
who  had  gone  forth  from  Kasaoka  and  had  been 
slain  during  the  Saigo  rebellion  or  the  war 
with  China   or  with  Russia.      Once   a   year   a 


32        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

service  is  held  here,  common  throughout  Japan, 
called  "shokonsai."  Intelligent  Japanese  de- 
clare that  the  service  now  is  nothing  more  than 
a  memorial  occasion,  but  to  the  people  it  is 
still  worship  of  the  departed  dead.  At  the 
Shinto  shrines  throughout  the  country  the  wor- 
ship continues ;  yet  the  State  has  declared  that 
its  own  observance  of  the  Shinto  cultus  is  not 
to  be  looked  upon  as  being  religious  in  sig- 
nificance, it  is  a  State  ceremony. 

The  Salvation  Army,  the  Methodists,  and  the 
Congregationalists  had  united  at  Kasaoka  for 
the  local  campaign.  Enjoying  a  good  degree 
of  popularity  among  the  Japanese,  the  Salva- 
tion Army  is  extending  its  work  into  the  in- 
terior and,  without  the  ordinances,  is  assum- 
ing the  form  of  an  ecclesiastical  body,  or 
Church.  I  asked  the  J^oung  officer  (a  Japa- 
nese) if  the  ordinances  were  administered  to 
those  who  united  with  their  organization.  He 
replied  that  they  had  nothing  but  a  "swearing 
in"  ceremony.  The  preaching  service  was  very 
effective.  There  was  much  enthusiasm  among 
the  local  Christians  for  the  cause.  The  results 
of  the  meetings  could  not  be  fully  known,  as 
the  net  was  not  cast.  Their  plan  was  to  follow 
up  the  public  work  with  personal  visitations. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        33 

Along  this  line  of  railway,  which  extends 
from  Osaka  to  Shimonoseki  along  the  shores  of 
the  Inland  Sea,  numerous  industries  are  spring- 
ing up — commercial  enterprises,  factories,  and 
mining  industries.  The  most  formidable  obsta- 
cle with  which  we  meet  is  the  secularity  of 
mind  everywhere  prevalent.  The  industrial 
movement  has  rendered  more  difficult  the  task 
of  awakening  spiritual  interest  and  that  zeal 
in  the  flame  of  which  "life  is  doubly  life."  A 
transition  to  a  new  environment  produces  a 
new  type  of  man.  In  the  olden  days  prosper- 
ity scarcely  entered  into  the  minds  of  men,  even 
as  a  Utopian  dream.  Now  the  wakeful  hours  are 
filled  with  thoughts  of  gain,  toward  the  acquisi- 
tion of  which  one's  best  energies  are  exerted. 

IV.  A  Night  with  the  Mayor  of  Kurashiki. 

From  Tsuyama  we  returned  to  Okayama  on 
May  19  and  thence  took  a  train  on  the  main 
line  to  Kurashiki,  two  stations  below  Okayama. 
Here  there  are  modern  factories  and  wealth. 
Some  of  the  leading  business  men  and  officials 
are  Christians.  Rev.  T.  Miyagawa,  Chairman 
of  the  Evangelistic  Committee  of  the  Western 
Section  and  one  of  the  foremost  pastors  of  the 
nation,  was  with  me.  His  preaching  was  ear- 
3 


34        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

nest  and  courageous.  He  did  not  spare  the 
nation's  sins,  the  corruption  recently  exposed 
in  the  navy,  in  one  of  the  greatest  Buddhist 
sects,  and  in  the  household  department.  In 
fact,  Japanese  preaching  has  undergone  a 
change  recently  in  the  presence  of  national 
evils.  Hitherto  the  preachers  have  not  been 
inclined,  as  Bunyan  would  say,  "to  roar 
against  sin."  Now,  like  Savonarola  to  Italy, 
their  cry  to  the  nation  is:  "Your  sins  have 
made  us  prophets."  The  inclination  among 
Japanese  preachers  has  been  rather  to  inform 
the  intellect.  Now  they  seek  to  grip  the  con- 
science by  relating  particular  evils  to  the  moral 
law.  One  preacher,  however,  speaking  with  me 
at  a  certain  place  in  this  campaign,  discoursed 
abstractly  on  "Truth."  To  discourse  in  an 
evangelistic  campaign  in  a  philosophical  man- 
ner on  truth  was  as  awkward  as  the  attempt 
of  Porphyry,  for  example,  to  improve  the  three 
Christian  virtues  of  faith,  hope,  and  love  b}^ 
adding  truth  as  a  fourth  virtue. 

Mr.  Miyagawa's  vigorous  sermon  was,  for 
the  time  being  at  least,  a  refutation  of  the  crit- 
icism voiced  by  some  of  the  younger  ministers 
in  the  Japanese  Churches.  It  has  been  said  by 
some  of  them  that  the  Christianity  of  the  pio- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        35 

neers  in  the  Japanese  ministry  smacks  unduly 
of  Confucianism.  The  early  converts  who  en- 
tered the  ministry  were,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, sons  of  Samurai  houses  and  were 
trained  according  to  the  Confucian  and  Bushi- 
do  (military)  ideals.  The  evangelistic  note  is, 
therefore,  lacking  in  their  preaching.  The 
moral  nobility  of  the  Christian  life  has  ap- 
pealed to  them;  but  they  have  not  entered  into 
the  true  spirit  of  Christianity  as  a  gospel  of 
repentance,  faith,  and  reconciliation  as  a 
means  to  eternal  life.  The  Christianity  of 
these  pioneers  has  leaned  too  far  in  the  direc- 
tion of  ethical  and  practical  ideals,  to  the  neg- 
lect of  the  true  evangelistic  note.  Whether 
the  criticism  be  well  founded  or  not,  there  is 
no  question  as  to  the  truly  evangelistic  ring 
of  the  sermon  preached  at  Kurashiki  by  Mr. 
Miyagawa,  who  belongs  to  the  group  of  pio- 
neer preachers  in  the  Japanese  Churches. 

After  service  I  accepted  an  invitation  to 
spend  the  night  with  the  mayor  of  the  city,  Mr. 
Kimura.  His  residence  was  an  elegant  Japan- 
ese yasliiki,  laid  out  in  the  style  prevailing  in 
feudal  days;  but  within  we  found  the  atmos- 
phere of  Christian  devotion.  The  family  was 
large,  with  not  less  than  ten  children,  an  ex- 


36        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

traordinarj  number  in  Japan.  The  next 
morning  I  found  poached  eggs  on  the  table 
for  breakfast,  besides  other  dishes  that  gave 
evidence  of  some  knowledge  of  American  cook- 
ing. Mrs.  Kimura's  younger  brother,  she  told 
me,  had  been  a  student  at  Yale  University. 
After  breakfast,  which  I  ate  alone  in  the  pres- 
ence of  my  host,  the  Bible  was  brought  by  Mrs. 
Kimura  for  family  prayers,  and  also  a  booklet, 
printed  by  the  Scripture  Readers'  Union,  the 
plan  of  which  they  had  been  following  in  their 
daily  worship.  The  mayor  I  found  to  be  a 
man  of  strength  and  Christian  faith.  He  was 
a  director  in  local  cotton-spinning  companies. 
He  remarked  that  the  time  had  come  in  Japan 
when  theories  and  speculations  were  no  longer 
acceptable  from  the  pulpit;  they  needed  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  which  he  hoped  would  be 
preached  everywhere.  In  fact,  as  a  result  of 
the  new  industrial  awakening,  materialism  has 
permeated  Japanese  society  and  institutions. 
The  prevailing  worldliness  gave  no  alarm  un- 
til men  saw  specific  forms  of  evil  of  which  it 
had  become  the  fruitful  source.  The  question 
now  is,  What  will  give  ascendancy  to  the  spir- 
itual over  the  material?  Buddhism,  like  some 
forms  of  Christianity,  finds  itself  too  negative 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        37 

as  to  primal  truths  to  become  courageous, 
positive,  or  vital.  The  Christian  religion  is 
confronted  with  an  opportunity  parallel  to 
that  of  the  eighties,  but  it  is  a  changed  op- 
portunity. Then  Christianity  was  sought  as 
a  good  thing.  Now  its  acceptance  is  felt  by 
many  to  be  a  necessity  to  save  the  nation. 
Then  the  acceptance  of  the  Christian  religion 
was  too  often  looked  upon  as  a  part  of  the 
general  advantage  to  be  obtained  by  an  adop- 
tion of  Western  civilization.  Now  there  is  a 
clearer  and  more  general  recognition  of  the 
unique  character  of  the  Christian  religion  as  a 
religion  of  redemption.  Now  there  is  greater 
enthusiasm  for  the  work  of  saving  men  by  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God. 

V.  A  Young  Man's  Prayer  Answered  after 
His   Death. 

Once  more,  on  May  20,  I  left  the  main  line 
of  railway  and  by  a  lighter  line  traveled  into 
the  mountains  to  one  of  the  remoter  districts. 
Takaya  is  what  the  Japanese  call  a  noson — 
namely,  an  agricultural  village.  Farmers  in 
Japan  do  not  live  on  their  several  pieces  of 
land,  but  in  village  communities.  After  leav- 
ing the  branch  line  at  Nanukaichi,  Takaya  was 


38        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

reached  after  half  an  hour's  ride  bj  jinrikisha. 
The  rain  was  coming  down  in  torrents.  I  Avas 
hoping  for  a  clear  night  and  a  good  attend- 
ance, for  I  had  not  jet  seen  an  empty  seat  in 
any  of  the  campaign  meetings.  The  post- 
master, in  whose  home  we  were  to  be  enter- 
tained, received  us  kindly.  The  official  members 
soon  called  and  extended  a  cordial  welcome. 
Our  fellow  worker  for  this  occasion  was  Mr. 
Kuwata,  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Osaka.  Takaya  is  extremely  interesting,  be- 
cause the  leading  men  of  the  village  are  Chris- 
tians, as  well  as  many  of  the  villagers.  A  church 
costing  two  thousand  yen  has  recently  been 
built  with  local  funds.  There  is  a  bell  in  the 
cupola  which  was  rung  at  the  church  hour, 
after  the  manner  of  the  temple  bells.  Though 
the  rain  was  pouring  down,  about  a  hundred 
people  gathered  and  listened  until  after  eleven 
o'clock  to  the  gospel  messages. 

The  story  of  the  founding  of  this  remark- 
able work  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the 
annals  of  Japanese  Christianity.  A  young 
man  named  Okamoto  went  from  the  village  to 
Kobe  and  was  baptized  there  in  the  Tamon 
Church  (Congregational).  At  the  baptismal 
service  he  fainted,  no  one  knowing  why.     He 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        39 

returned  to  his  village,  prompted  by  a  burn- 
ing desire  to  bring  the  knowledge  of  Christ  to 
the  valley  of  which  Takaya  v/as  the  agricultural 
center.  He  met  with  stubborn  intolerance  and 
could  gather  to  himself  only  the  children  of 
the  street,  whom  he  loved  into  loyal  obedience 
to  his  own  leadership.  To  the  top  of  a  hill 
near  the  village  he  resorted  daily  for  prayer. 
Looking  over  the  fields  and  cottages  below,  he 
poured  out  his  soul  to  God  for  the  conversion 
of  his  people.  He  attended  the  Kwansei  Ga- 
kuin,  where  he  sat  in  my  classroom  and  that 
of  the  other  members  of  the  faculty;  but  little 
did  we  know  of  the  mighty  passion  ruling  his 
soul.  He  fell  ill  and  died,  and  his  body  was 
carried  back  to  the  village  and  buried  in  the 
cemetery.  His  life  seemed  to  take  hold  of  the 
leaders  of  the  village  in  a  peculiar  manner. 
First  one  and  then  another  among  those  who 
had  come  in  contact  with  him  became  a  Chris- 
tian, until  now  Takaya  promises  to  be  the  first 
Christian  village  in  the  empire  of  Japan.  I 
had  been  seated  in  the  home  of  the  postmas- 
ter but  a  few  minutes  when  the  story  of  this 
young  man's  life  was  related  to  me  by  the  offi- 
cial members  of  the  Church.  They  took  a 
pride  in  the  fact  that  a  village  lad  had  sue- 


40        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

ceeded  in  breaking  down  the  traditional  preju- 
dices against  Christianity  and  in  bringing  into 
existence  a  Christian  Church.  A  surprising 
proportion  of  the  members  were  persons  of  ma- 
ture age.  Among  those  who  called  on  us  were 
four  or  five  aged  women.  I  asked  them  how 
old  they  were  when  they  were  converted  to 
Christianity.  One  replied  that  she  was  fifty- 
five,  another  was  sixty-one,  and  a  third  was 
sixty-two.  In  the  congregation  a  dozen  or 
mofe  women  of  this  age  had  their  Bibles  and 
hymn  books  and  were  recent  recruits  to  the 
cause  of  Christ. 

The  next  morning  at  five  o'clock  a  kindly 
hospitality  provided  an  early  breakfast  for  us. 
The  official  members  were  again  there  to  show 
their  appreciation  and  kindness  as  the  jinriki- 
sha  started  off  for  the  station.  All  bowed 
gracefully  as  our  jinrikisha  started  and 
shouted,  "Sayonara!"  the  Japanese  parting 
word,  which  literally  means,  "If  it  must  be  so." 
As  our  men  ran  through  the  barley  fields  we 
caught  glimpses  between  the  clouds,  like  visions 
of  the  eternal,  of  the  blue,  unchanging  sky. 
But  the  clouds  soon  began  to  beat  a  retreat; 
patches  of  light  eastward  grew  in  brightness, 
and  the  sky  began  to  clear  overhead.     By  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        41 

time  we  reached  the  station  the  valley,  with  its 
green  fields  and  clusters  of  cottages,  was  radi- 
ant in  the  morning  light.  The  fresh  green  and 
glints  of  spring  were  delightful  to  our  senses; 
but  far  more  bright  and  cheering  were  the 
prospects  of  faith  for  the  Takaya  village,  long 
under  the  shadows  of  a  spiritual  night.  It 
was  easy,  in  truth,  under  the  elation  of  the 
moment,  to  imagine  the  clouds  were  everywhere 
passing  all  around  the  world. 

What  a  splendid  vision  stirred  the  soul  of 
young  Okamoto — the  conversion  of  the  entire 
village  to  Christ!  There  are  twenty-five  thou- 
sand country  towns  or  villages  in  Japan  with 
public  schools.  The  denomination  which  forms 
these  into  circuits  and  establishes  among  them 
regular  preaching  services  will  gain  the  as- 
cendancy in  Japanese  national  life.  Some  say: 
"As  go  the  cities,  so  goes  the  country."  But, 
under  modern  conditions,  the  country  towns 
have  gained  in  relative  importance.  It  is  from 
these  that  the  cities  are  recruited.  My  visit  to 
this  country  community  only  served  to  deepen 
the  conviction  I  already  had  that  the  conquest 
of  rural  and  agricultural  Japan  for  Christ  and 
the  Church  is  the  supreme  obligation  of  the 
hour  in  this  country. 


42        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

VI.  The  Close  of  the  Campaign  at  Okayama. 

Our  last  appointment  was  at  Okayama  on 
May  21,  this  time  at  the  Methodist  preaching 
place.  Meetings  had  been  held  in  this  city, 
first  in  the  public  hall  and  afterwards  in  the 
various  denominational  preaching  places.  We 
found  rest  in  the  hospitable  home  of  Rev.  W. 
A.  and  Mrs.  Wilson,  resident  missionaries  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  We 
enjoyed  a  meal  with  Rev.  J.  H.  and  Mrs.  Pet- 
tee,  of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, who  have  resided  in  Okayama  for  thirty- 
five  years. 

At  the  night  services  preaching  continued 
until  eleven  o'clock.  Rev.  T.  Kugimiya,  now 
preacher  in  charge  of  the  West  Osaka  Meth- 
odist Church  and  one  of  the  group  of  young 
men  years  ago  in  Oita  on  whom  the  Holy  Spir- 
it was  poured  out  in  such  great  power,  was  the 
first  to  speak.  The  spirit  of  evangelism  is 
strong  in  him  and  has  been  for  years.  He 
does  not  believe  that  true  evangelism  can  be 
realized  by  forced  effort.  "If  so,  it  would  be 
simply  like  the  campaigns  conducted  by  po- 
litical parties."  The  last  speaker,  Rev.  G. 
Akazawa,  who  is  in  charge  of  the  Methodist 
Church  at  Kobe,  gave  a  most  earnest  exhorta- 


Campaignmg  for  Christ  in  Japan.        43 

tion,  after  which  many  made  request  for 
prayer  and  signified  their  intention  of  becom- 
ing Christians.  In  my  sermon  I  spoke  of  the 
instantaneous  work  of  grace  so  needed  now  in 
Japan  and  so  lost  sight  of  by  our  age,  the  rul- 
ing concept  of  which  is  evolution. 

It  had  been  a  strenuous  week  which  was  now 
brought  to  a  close.  Speakers  had  crossed  and 
recrossed  one  another's  paths,  following  each 
other  at  the  various  places  where  the  campaign 
was  conducted.  By  means  of  posters,  hung 
along  the  highways  throughout  the  prefecture, 
by  newspaper  reports  and  notices,  and  by 
public  discourses,  the  Christian  religion  had 
been  brought  to  the  attention  of  thousands  of 
souls  living  in  that  part  of  Japan.  It  was  a 
time  of  general  sowing  of  the  seed,  and  the 
harvest  will  come  in  due  season.  The  oppor- 
tunity for  preaching,  especially  in  the  country 
towns,  was  never  so  great.  The  Japanese  are 
good  listeners,  giving  to  the  speakers  not  only 
respectful  but  intelligent  attention.  In  fact, 
scarcely  in  any  country  can  audiences  be  found 
which  have  a  greater  appreciation  of  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  weighty  concerns  of  life  than 
these  audiences  in  Japan,  gathered  together  in 
various  places  to  hear  Christian  preaching.     It 


44        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

is  a  delight  to  speak  to  them.  A  good  point 
made  by  the  speaker  will  always  evoke  hearty 
applause,  manifested  by  the  clapping  of  hands. 
One  is  rarely  interrupted,  and  better  protec- 
tion is  given  to  the  missionaries  in  their  pub- 
lic discourses  by  the  Japanese  authorities  than 
was  given  the  early  apostles  and  evangelists 
under  the  Roman  Empire. 

While  in  Okayama  I  walked  with  friends  to 
the  Koraku-en,  a  celebrated  garden  near  the 
castle  of  a  former  daimio.  It  was  a  superb 
specimen  of  the  Japanese  landscape  gardener's 
art.  There  were  numerous  mounds  and  ever- 
green shrubs  rounded  into  spherical  forms. 
Rocks  and  stones,  slabs  and  lanterns  of  stones, 
ponds  and  bridges,  walks  and  summer  houses 
were  arranged  according  to  conventional  de- 
signs. 

At  the  entrance  to  the  park,  among  the 
booths  and  stalls  where  souvenirs  of  various  de- 
scriptions were  sold,  a  woman  was  keeping  a 
porcelain  shop.  She  showed  us  vessels  ready 
for  brush  and  kiln.  She  urged  us  to  write  on 
these  with  paints  she  would  supply,  promising 
to  glaze  them  for  us  in  the  fires.  I  purchased 
a  plate  for  a  few  pennies,  on  wliich  I  wrote 
the  names  of  the  towns  visited,  the  campaign. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        45 

and  the  date.  I  asked  the  woman  if  she  could 
burn  these  into  the  plate.  She  declared  she 
would  do  so  if  we  had  the  patience  to  wait  a  lit- 
tle while.  She  put  the  vessel  into  a  hot  char- 
coal fire,  contained  in  a  crude  earthen  pot, 
then  fanned  the  fire  into  an  intense  flame  of 
heat  and  redness.  After  a  while  our  plate 
was  removed.  The  writing  and  the  cross  I  had 
drawn  had  been  burned  into  the  very  substance 
of  the  vessel,  while  the  surface  had  become  cov- 
ered over  with  a  vitreous  glaze.  It  was  a  fit- 
ting little  memento  to  be  carried  away,  a  sou- 
venir of  the  days  of  intense  activity,  the  im- 
pressions of  which  had  entered  too  deeply  into 
the  minds  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  cam- 
paign ever  to  fade  from  their  memories  in  the 
years  to  come. 

After  returning  home,  numerous  letters  came 
from  the  Churches  visited  expressing  in  due 
Japanese  style  appreciation  of  the  services  ren- 
dered. One  of  these  may  be  of  general  inter- 
est. It  bears  the  signature  of  Hon.  Chimata 
Tateishi,  a  descendant  of  Shinran,  the 'founder 
of  the  largest  Buddhist  sect  in  Japan.  Mr. 
Tateishi  was  a  member  of  Parliament  for  many 
years.  Though  his  reelection  would  have  been 
easy,  he  chose  to  take  the  field  as  a  lay  preach- 


46        Campaignmg  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

er  and  now  devotes  his  time  to  the  spread  of 
tlie  gospel  among  his  people.  As  the  words  of 
appreciation  apply  to  all  who  visited  Tsuyama, 
there  is  no  impropriety  in  quoting  them  here : 

Tsuyama,  May  25,  1914. 

"We  wish  to  extend  to  you  our  greatest  thanks  for 
your  valuable  help  at  the  time  of  the  religious  cam- 
paign throughout  the  empire.  Despite  the  great  dis- 
tance, you  were  pleased  to  come  to  such  a  remote 
place  and  help  us  in  the  great  evangelical  movement. 
We  were  able  to  see  larger  audiences  in  the  different 
places  than  we  had  expected.  We  are,  therefore,  ex- 
pecting to  reap  a  great  harvest  in  the  future.  We 
can  assure  you  that  every  person  in  this  district  is 
very  much  rejoiced  to  attribute  all  this  happy  pros- 
pect for  the  future  to  the  earnest  efforts  of  the  preach- 
ers who  came  here  to  help  us  in  the  great  attempt. 
We  shall  be  much  obliged  if  you  will  spare  some  of 
your  thoughts  for  us  and  remember  us  in  the  time  of 
your  prayer. 

Just  a  line  to  express  to  you  our  sincere  apprecia- 
tion of  your  help. 


CAMPAIGN   ON  THE   NORTHWEST 
COAST  OF  JAPAN. 

I.  A  Fervent  Meeting  for  "Ethical 
Culture." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  National  Evangelistic 
Campaign  preparatory  meetings  were  held,  to 
which  the  Japanese  gave  the  name  of  sliuyo- 
kwai.  Now,  the  traditional  sense  of  sJiuyo,  a 
term  Confucian  in  origin,  is  "ethical  culture." 
Such  a  usage  scarcely  accords  with  the  concep- 
tion of  a  religious  revival  in  the  Christian  sense ; 
but  the  term  was  not  used  in  the  Confucian  sense 
by  the  Japanese  Christians.  The  name  was  old, 
yet  the  reality  it  represented  to  them  was  new. 
No  persons  anywhere  are  more  truly  aware  of 
the  dryness  and  barrenness  of  mere  ethical  cul- 
ture than  the  Japanese.  Nowhere  can  there  be 
found  a  heartier  recognition  of  the  gain  to  mo- 
rality itself  to  be  derived  from  a  religious  re- 
vival nor  a  better  appreciation  of  the  heighten- 
ing of  the  moral  sense  with  the  emotions  proper 
to  it  to  be  achieved  in  the  fervent  experience  of 
a  vital  relation  to  the  true  and  living  God  than 
among  these  Christians  formerly  trained  in  Con- 
fucian platitudes. 

(47) 


48        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

Among  the  sliuyohwai  which  I  attended,  the 
most  inspiring  and  successful  was  the  meeting 
of  pastors  and  workers  held  at  Takata,  in  the 
province  of  Echigo,  on  the  north  coast  of  Ja- 
pan, July  10-12,  1914.  It  was  necessary  to 
get  out  early  in  the  morning  in  order  to  catch 
the  train  leaving  Uyeno  Park  Station,  in 
Tokyo.  On  the  street  cars  in  Tokyo  tickets 
are  sold.  I  was  surprised  when  the  conductor 
handed  me  a  brown  ticket  instead  of  a  blue 
one,  the  ordinary  color,  and  charged  me  only 
half  the  regular  fare.  The  reason  for  the  half 
charge  reflected  credit  upon  the  traction  com- 
pany responsible  for  the  regulation.  Until 
seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  during  the  sum- 
mer and  eight  o'clock  in  the  winter  this  reduc- 
tion is  made  for  the  sake  of  the  poor,  for  stu- 
dents, and  for  laborers. 

In  the  surging  crowd  at  the  Uyeno  Station, 
amid  the  confusion  of  voices  and  clatter  of  geta 
(sandals),  I  noticed  the  Canadian  Methodist 
missionary  ladies,  in  charge  of  a  school  in 
Tokyo,  preparing  to  take  the  train.  They 
had  accompanying  them  a  good  number  of  stu- 
dents whom  they  were  taking  to  Karuizawa,  a 
summering  place  in  the  mountains.  In  the  rush 
of  people,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  each  think- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        49 

ing  only  of  himself  and  his  own  comfort,  these 
ladies  were  considering  their  girl  students.  To 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  latter's  purses, 
they  purchased  third-class  tickets  and  rode  a 
good  part  of  the  day  on  hard,  straight-backed 
seats. 

A  level  stretch  of  country  about  seventy-five 
miles  in  length  is  crossed  after  leaving  Tokyo. 
A  most  pleasing  sight  observed  along  the  way 
were  the  smokestacks  of  factories  rising  out  of 
green  fields  in  the  country  districts.  Not  that 
these  added  to  the  charm  or  interest  of  the 
landscape.  Far  from  it.  The  attractive  fea- 
tures were  the  sunshine,  the  fresh  air,  and  cheer- 
ful prospect  enjoyed  by  the  operatives,  most 
of  whom  are  women  and  girls.  The  location 
of  factories  in  the  country  districts  does  not 
solve  all  problems  arising  out  of  factory  con- 
ditions;  yet  it  relieves  the  operatives  of  that 
constant  moral  strain  to  which  they  are  sub- 
jected in  the  city  and  escape  from  which  we 
seek  when  we  pray,  "Lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion." 

Climbing   into    the   mountains    through   nu- 
merous tunnels,  our  train  passed  the  watershed 
and   thundered   down   toward    the    sea    on   the 
northwest  coast.     Near  Nagano  we  crossed  a 
4 


50        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

beautiful  valley  in  which  farmers  were  at  work 
transplanting  their  rice.  The  rural  scene  was 
unlike  anj^thing  visible  in  America — first,  in 
the  almost  complete  absence  of  domestic  ani- 
mals; secondly,  in  the  presence  of  women  in 
the  fields,  as  many,  indeed,  as  men;  and,  third- 
ly, in  the  number  of  farmers  to  be  seen  at  one 
glance  (about  five  hundred)  from  the  train 
window — an  evidence  of  the  overcrowded  con- 
dition of  the  peasant  population. 

I  put  into  my  valise  an  old  Puritan  writing, 
by  John  Goodwin,  entitled  "Pleroma  to  Pneu- 
matikon;  or,  A  Being  Filled  with  the  Spirit." 
Though  long-drawn-out  and  difficult  to  read, 
like  most  of  the  Puritan  writings,  it  was  ex- 
ceedingly refreshing  in  its  "opening"  of  the 
Scripture  and  even  startling  in  some  of  its 
affirmations.  What  has  our  humanitarian  age 
to  say  of  a  statement  like  this:  "We  are  never 
likely  to  be  any  great  benefactors  to  the  world, 
which  we  yet  stand  bound  in  duty  to  be,  unless 
we  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit.?"  Who  can 
withhold  hearty  assent  when  he  continues 
as  follows:  "For  there  is  nothing  lies  within 
the  sphere  of  human  activity  of  more  worthy 
or  higher  accommodation  or  concernment  unto 
the  world  than  to  present  it  with  a  clear  vision 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        51 

of  the  sight  of  a  man  believing  with  his  whole 
heart  in  Jesus  Christ,  or  else  to  show  unto  men 
the  sight  of  the  world  itself  conquered  and 
overcome  by  a  man.  With  both  these  sights 
every  such  man  or  woman  presenteth  the  world 
who  telleth  the  world  with  authority  and  power 
— that  is,  by  a  manifest  contempt  of  the  world 
in  all  that  it  can  do  for  him  or  against  him — 
that  he  believeth  in  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  not 
a  greater  sight  to  be  shown  or  seen  in  the 
world  than  to  show  it  plainly  and  cause  it  to 
see  distinctly  the  heart  of  a  throughout  be- 
liever in  Christ,  or  to  show  it  in  like  manner 
the  world  overcome  by  a  weak  and  mortal  man." 
It  would  be  well  to  hang  this  statement  upon 
the  walls  of  every  social  settlement  in  Christen- 
dom, so  prone  are  we  in  social  work  to  drift 
into  mere  humanitarianism.  Other  striking 
statements  are  sprinkled  through  the  pages  of 
this  interesting  volume.  For  example,  the  fol- 
lowing :  "The  damnation  of  the  gospel  is  a  thou- 
sand times  more  dreadful  than  that  of  the  law ;" 
"Excellent  things  for  God  no  one  can  do  unless 
he  be  filled  with  the  Spirit ;"  "Forsaking  God  is 
the  most  monstrous  thing  in  the  universe;" 
"The  ministry  of  the  gospel  in  the  world  is  like 
the  sun  in  the  firmament;"  "A  mark  of  being 


52        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

filled  with  the  Spirit  is  when  a  man's  spirit  rises 
and  falls  according  to  the  true  exigency  of  the 
affairs  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  the  real  benefit  of 
man."  Or  take  this  opening  sentence  of  the  ded- 
ication: "There  is  a  great  ambition  in  the  sons 
of  men  after  fullness,  and  so  there  is  in  the  sons 
of  God  also ;  but  the  fullness  which  the  sons  of 
the  latter  and  better  denomination  do  most 
mind  and  covet  is  of  another  nature  and  kind 
than  that  which  the  sons  of  the  other  and  lower 
denomination  are  ambitious  of."  This  should 
be  coupled  with  his  statement  that  "if  men  be 
not  filled,  or  in  a  way  of  being  filled,  with  the 
Spirit  of  God,  they  will  be  filled  with  some  evil 
spirit,  one  or  the  other." 

Goodwin  was  profitable  reading  as  a  prep- 
aration for  the  shuyohwai,  the  meeting  togeth- 
er of  pastors  and  workers;  for  the  discussion 
of  work  too  often  receives  such  emphasis  as  to 
throw  into  the  background  the  primary  mat- 
ter, the  "greater  sight"  of  showing  to  the 
world  plainly  and  causing  it  to  see  distinctly  a 
"throughout"  belief  in  Christ,  to  show  it  the 
"world  overcome  by  weak  and  mortal  men." 

Takata  is  near  the  northwest  coast  on  the 
Sea  of  Japan.  It  is  the  first  city  in  this  coun- 
try I  have  seen  with  sidewalks,  and  these  are 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        53 

roofed  over.  Snow  falls  in  great  quantities, 
filling  the  streets  to  a  level  with  the  second- 
story  windows.  It  is  not  driven  into  hollows 
by  the  wind,  but  accumulates.  One  can  easily 
imagine  that  he  sees  at  work  here  the  processes 
by  which  the  glacial  age  was  brought  about. 
Rev.  D.  Norman,  who  is  so  efficient  as  to  be 
invited  to  serve  as  presiding  elder  in  the  Japan 
Methodist  Church,  conducted  me  to  a  hotel, 
where  I  found  as  my  roommate  Rev.  E.  C.  Hen- 
nigar,  of  the  Canadian  Methodist  Mission,  who 
is  stationed  at  Toyama.  In  conversation  with 
him  I  learned  that  the  population  of  Toyama 
was  sixty  thousand  and  of  the  prefecture  eight 
hundred  thousand.  In  Toyama  there  are 
street  cars,  electric  lights,  and  modern  facto- 
ries. With  the  exception  of  two  ladies  in  the 
city  in  which  he  lives,  he  is  the  only  mission- 
ary in  the  province.  Light  railways,  now  be- 
ing constructed  everywhere  in  Japan,  run  into 
the  interior  of  the  prefecture,  rendering  many 
places  easy  of  access.  There  are  thirty-two 
towns  with  mayoralties  in  Toyama  Prefecture 
having  a  population  of  from  four  thousand  to 
forty  thousand.  The  working  out  of  mission 
comity  may  be  seen  by  the  division  of  this  field 
between  the  Canadian  Methodists  and  Presby- 


54        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

terians,  the  former  having  five  of  the  counties 
as  their  field  and  the  latter  three. 

These  preparatory  meetings,  for  the  most 
part,  have  been  interdenominational.  This  par- 
ticular one  was  under  the  direction  of  Meth- 
odist pastors  on  the  west  and  north  coast  of 
Japan.  Mr.  B.  F.  Buxton,  of  the  Church  of 
England,  had  been  invited  as  a  speaker.  He 
is  a  layman  of  Quaker  descent  and  is  connected 
with  one  of  the  leading  families  of  England. 
He  has  inaugurated  a  work  in  Japan  somewhat 
on  Keswick  lines,  to  which  he  has  contributed 
his  energies  and  considerable  sums  of  money. 
The  Japan  Evangelistic  Band,  of  the  Executive 
Council  of  which  he  is  chairman  and  of  which 
Mr.  Paget  Wilkes  is  the  most  active  leader,  is 
interdenominational  and  announces  as  its  teach- 
ing: "(1)  A  new  birth  from  above  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  received  through  the  forgiveness  of  sins 
on  the  ground  of  atonement  by  faith;  (2)  that 
the  Bible  is  the  inspired  Word  of  God  from 
cover  to  cover;  (3)  a  full  salvation  and  sepa- 
ration unto  God,  a  true  union  with  him  through 
faith  in  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ; 
(4)  the  unity  of  all  true  believers  in  Christ." 

"We  emphasize,"  the  statement  goes  on  to 
say,  "heart-cleansing,  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        55 

Ghost,  and  a  life  of  continuous  victory  over 
sin  through  the  indwelhng  Christ  in  the  heart." 
Further,  "the  work  being  interdenominational, 
the  mission  does  not  establish  a  Church  or  sect 
of  its  own." 

Thus  at  Takata  divergent  streams  strangely 
met,  all  of  which  had  their  source  in  the  Wes- 
leyan  revival  in  the  eighteenth  century — the 
evangelical  movement  within  the  Church  of 
England,  represented  by  Mr.  Buxton,  besides 
Canadian  Methodism,  American  Methodism, 
and  Japanese  Methodism.  No  one  who  wit- 
nessed during  the  successive  services  the  one- 
ness of  spirit  and  aim,  the  superior  accent 
placed  on  subjective  experience,  the  conviction 
expressed  that  attainment  now  was  possible 
of  a  living  consciousness  of  possessing  God 
through  faith  in  Christ  could  question  the  reali- 
ty of  the  common  inheritance.  Men  were  moved 
in  their  inmost  souls,  especially  the  Japanese 
preachers,  as  they  prayed  earnestly  and  affec- 
tionately for  the  conversion  of  their  own  peo- 
ple. No  one  would  deny  that  by  means  of  prac- 
tical instruction,  by  the  slow  and  patient  proc- 
ess of  ethical  discipline  (shu7/o),  by  the  grad- 
ual contemplation  of  the  ideal,  a  certain  meas- 
ure of  progress  can  be  obtained.     A  love  for 


56        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

souls  might  thus  be  awakened,  jet  scarcely  an 
ardent  love ;  a  sense  of  the  importance  of  truth, 
though  not  of  its  unutterable  importance;  a 
desire  for  moral  excellency  and  heavenly  pu- 
rity, though  not  a  groaning  after  it;  a  dislike 
of  sin,  but  not  a  loathing  of  it;  a  recognition 
of  the  goodness  of  God,  but  not  a  knowledge  of 
his  saving  grace.  In  the  intense  hours  under 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  and  in  prayer  and 
by  means  of  a  realizing  faith  attainments  are 
possible  which  no  Confucian  or  stoic  discipline 
can  ever  accomplish. 

In  the  shuyohwai  at  Takata  the  lines  met,  as 
we  have  said,  representing  Christian  history  pri- 
marily as  an  experience.  There  was  a  resident 
missionary  at  that  place,  however,  whose  cour- 
teous hospitality  we  enjoyed,  the  Rev.  C.  H. 
Shortt,  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Canada, 
who  stood  for  a  different  tradition.  Refined 
and  scholarly  in  his  tastes,  living  all  alone  in 
consecration  to  his  task,  possessing  a  choice 
library,  Mr.  Shortt  belongs  to  that  school  to 
the  adherents  of  which  Christian  history  is  also 
vastly  important  as  an  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tion. Looking  down  upon  him  from  the  walls 
of  the  rooms  in  which  he  spends  his  hours  in 
solitude,   I  noticed  portraits   of  the  Pope   of 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        57 

Rome,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishop  of  London, 
Bishop  Nicolai,  late  of  the  Russian  Holy  Ortho- 
dox Church,  of  Tokyo,  Bishop  Cecil,  of  the 
Church  of  England,  Tokyo,  and  Bishop  An- 
drews, of  the  Canadian  Episcopal  Church,  Na- 
goya.  Ignatius  said  in  the  second  century: 
"Do  nothing  without  the  bishop."  This  view 
has  become  deeply  imbedded  in  Christian  tra- 
dition. 

At  the  last  service  of  the  shuyokwai  many 
tender  and  parting  words  were  exchanged  as 
the  workers  were  taking  leave  for  their  several 
stations.  When  Bibles  were  presented  to  the 
speakers  for  their  autographs,  I  felt  a 'sense 
of  restraint ;  but  the  insistence  was  earnest  and 
genuine,  so  I  wrote  my  name,  as  did  others,  in 
a  number  of  Bibles,  always  adding  these  words : 
"Present  salvation." 

Sunday  night  an  appointment  was  arranged 
for  me  at  Arai,  the  first  station  this  side  of 
Takata.  A  good  supper  had  been  prepared  at 
the  pastor's  home,  in  the  front  room  of  which 
meetings  were  held.  An  aged  farmer,  who  was 
also  a  Shinto  priest,  had  been  invited  in,  and 
he  sat  with  me  and  the  pastor.  Brother  Hase- 
gawa,  at  the  table,  while  the  wife  served  the 


58        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

dinner.  The  old  man  had  a  hedgerow  of  beard 
reaching  under  his  chin  from  one  side  of  his 
face  to  the  other.  His  hair  was  roached  back 
on  his  forehead.  Out  of  his  eyes  there  seemed 
to  look  the  mysteries  of  the  past  in  Japan,  its 
superstitions,  fox  possessions,  and  phantoms  of 
a  clouded  spiritual  night.  When  I  asked  him 
about  the  gods  of  Shlntoism,  he  replied:  "From 
the  time  of  Jimmu  Tenno  (660  B.C.)  the  new 
gods  have  all  been  men."  He  might  have  added 
that  General  Nogi  was  the  last  in  the  list.  The 
national  consciousness  in  Japan  is  as  favorable 
to  deification  as  it  was  averse  to  the  exaltation 
of  the  creature  among  the  Jews. 

After  supper  the  front  room  began  to  fill 
for  the  service,  which  had  been  advertised.  The 
pastor  was  very  tactful  in  handling  the  noisy 
children  who  had  flocked  in  from  the  street, 
excited  by  their  curiosity  to  see  a  foreigner.  A 
stand  was  brought  in,  on  which  were  laid  a  Bible 
and  a  hymn  book.  To  my  astonishment,  when 
I  stood  up  to  preach  here  in  this  wayside  place, 
I  saw  before  me  a  reporter  sitting  on  the  floor 
with  his  arms  spread  out  on  a  low  table,  such 
as  is  used  in  Japanese  houses.  He  was,  with 
pen  in  hand,  ready  to  take  down  my  sermon! 
Leaving  by  a  night  train,  I  found  myself  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        59 

next  day  at  my  desk  in  Tokyo,  thankful  for  the 
days  of  blessing  and  opportunities  spent  on  this 
trip. 

II.  A  Second  Visit  to  the  Northwest  Coast. 

On  October  16  I  rose  at  4:30  a.m.  and 
started  in  a  jinrikisha  across  the  city  of  Tokyo 
for  Uyeno  Station.  The  sky  was  flushed  with 
a  promise  of  the  morning,  though  the  people 
had  not  begun  to  move  in  the  street.  I  was 
starting  upon  a  journey  to  the  Province  of 
Echigo,  where  a  number  of  appointments  had 
been  made  in  connection  with  the  campaign. 

I  had  put  in  my  valise  two  or  three  volumes 
to  read  on  the  way,  among  which  was  an  old 
book,  entitled  "The  Great  Awakening,"  in 
which  there  was  an  account,  written  more  than 
half  a  century  ago,  of  the  great  revival  in  Amer- 
ica, which  began  with  Whitefield  and  Edwards. 

In  New  England  the  distinction  between 
nominal  and  real  Christianity  had  been  lost. 
Needless  to  say,  we  could  make  nothing  of  such 
a  distinction  in  our  preaching  in  Japan.  Those 
who  listened  to  us  had  lost  the  form  and  what- 
ever power  these  had  over  their  lives  of  the 
religions  they  once  professed.  Our  task  was 
a  twofold  one.     We  were  seeking  to  restore  re- 


60        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

ligion  to  its  legitimate  place  in  heart  and  life 
and  at  the  same  time  to  convince  the  people 
that  a  better  religion  was  within  their  reach 
than  the  faiths  they  once  held. 

Nevertheless,  the  reading  of  "The  Great 
Awakening"  was  very  profitable.  This  forgot- 
ten volume  contains  much  that  we  of  to-day 
might  well  take  to  heart.  The  Nottingham 
sermon  was  a  notable  utterance,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  it  became  the  occasion  of  intense  con- 
troversy. Tennant,  the  preacher,  who  was  a 
friend  of  Whitefield,  sought  to  show  that  there 
was  great  harm  to  the  cause  in  an  "uncon- 
verted ministry."  He  thought  the  temptation 
was  easy  to  preachers  to  be  satisfied  with  them- 
selves if  they  were  neither  heretical  in  their 
preaching  of  doctrine  nor  openly  immoral  in 
their  practical  life. 

What  room  is  there,  indeed,  between  these  two 
extremes  for  such  unholy  tempers  as  worldliness, 
pride,  envy,  hypocrisy,  censoriousness,  deceit, 
ingratitude,  levity,  ambition,  idleness,  indiffer- 
ence, and  like  tempers,  not  one  of  which  is  of 
such  a  nature  as  to  arrest  public  attention  or 
to  bring  upon  the  man  of  God  the  reproach  that 
either  scandalous  conduct  or  heretical  teach- 
ing would  draw  upon  his  head;  yet  these  un- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        61 

holy  tempers  tend  to  limit  his  influence  for 
good,  lower  his  spiritual  efficiency,  and  defeat 
the  very  purpose  for  which  the  ministry  was 
chosen  by  him.  Such  tempers  have  the  effect 
of  interfering  with  communion  with  Christ  and 
of  smothering  spiritual  desires  and  aspirations 
which  are  vital  to  a  successful  Christian  life 
and  ministry. 

The  journey  across  the  mouptain  ranges 
which  form  the  backbone  of  the  Japanese 
Islands  was  delightful.  On  the  hills,  now  be- 
ginning to  turn  to  golden,  brown,  and  russet 
tints,  the  maple,  the  lacquer,  and  the  azalea 
glov/ed  in  patches  of  bright  color,  as  crimson 
as  the  flush  on  the  sky  when  I  left  home  that 
morning.  One  pleasing,  though  unusual,  sight 
in  Japan  was  the  presence  of  a  herd  of  cattle 
grazing  on  the  side  of  a  mountain.  Vast 
stretches  of  pasture  land,  it  would  seem,  could 
be  developed  in  the  hill  districts  of  this  coun- 
try. The  train  passed  around  the  base  of  the 
great  Asama,  the  Vesuvius  of  Japan.  A  col- 
umn of  white  steam  came  out  of  the  grim  and 
forbidding  crater  and  rose  high  into  the 
heavens,  forming  a  magnificent  spectacle.  In 
the  late  spring,  when  I  passed  this  way,  the 
farmers  in  the  great  valley  adjacent  to  Nagano 


62        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

were  planting  their  rice.  Now  the  fields  were 
golden,  and  the  harvest  was  just  beginning. 

My  first  appointment  was  at  Nagaoka,  at 
which  place  I  arrived  at  8:10  p.m.,  after  an  all- 
da  j  journey.  Miss  Kawai,  who  had  preceded 
us,  made  the  first  address,  and  I  followed,  be- 
ginning at  nine  o'clock.  After  service  I  was 
entertained  in  an  elegant  hotel,  the  proprietor 
of  which  was  a  Christian  (Episcopalian).  The 
church  was  near  by,  and  he  manifested  interest 
in  its  progress.  Besides  the  Church  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  there  were  other  Christian 
organizations  in  the  place — a  Presbyterian  con- 
gregation and  a  preaching  place  conducted  by 
the  Oriental  Mission  (Holiness). 

The  register  is  brought  to  your  room  in  a 
Japanese  hotel,  and  you  are  supposed  to  put 
down  the  following  facts,  for  which  blank  col- 
umns have  been  made:  (1)  Where  you  lodged 
the  night  before.  (2)  Where  you  intend  to  go 
on  the  following  day.  (3)  Your  rank  (lord, 
retainer,  or  commoner).  (4)  Your  occupation. 
(5)  Your  place  of  residence.     (6)  Your  age. 

Mr.  Kaibo,  my  host,  said  that  the  Shinshiu 
Buddhists  were  strong  throughout  that  region, 
though  very  superstitious.  They  did  not  seem 
to  mind  the  corruption  at  the  head  temple  in 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        63 

Kyoto,  the  exposure  of  which  had  recently 
filled  the  Japanese  newspapers  and  shocked  the 
public.  When  leading  priests  came  to  that 
city  and  rode  through  the  streets,  the  people 
threw  paper  money  into  their  laps.  I  re- 
marked that  this  was  probably  due  to  their 
superstitious  ideas.  "Not  superstition,"  he  re- 
plied, "but  selfishness."  They  think  the  dol- 
lars thus  bestowed  will  return  to  them  a  hun- 
dredfold in  the  form  of  dollars.  Shinshiu  is 
the  Buddhist  sect  which  teaches  the  doctrine 
of  salvation  by  faith.  According  to  traditional 
Buddhism,  salvation  is  by  works,  by  the  ob- 
servance of  moral  precepts,  and  the  practice 
of  self-mastery.  But  the  so-called  "diflicult 
path,"  the  path  of  ascetic  austerities,  was  set 
aside  by  the  Shinshiuists,  who  adopted  an  "easy 
path,"  the  path  of  salvation  by  faith.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  Shinshiu  Buddhism  is  an  aber- 
rant form  of  Christian  teaching,  just  as  is  the 
Mohammedan  religion.  But  the  Shinshiu  sect 
is  antinomian.  Salvation  in  Buddhism  is  sal- 
vation from  passion;  but  the  Shinshiuists  give 
place  for  the  indulgence  of  the  passions.  They 
have  taken  up  the  worship  of  Amitabha,  the 
meaning  of  which  term  is  "infinite  light,"  as 
explained  by  them.     It  was  a  teaching  similar 


64        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

to  that  of  the  Shinshiuists  and  probably  em- 
anating from  the  same  source  that  John  had 
in  mind  when  he  said :  "God  is  light,  and  in  him 
is  no  darkness  at  all.  If  we  say  that  we  have 
fellowship  with  him,  and  walk  in  darkness,  we  lie, 
and  do  not  the  truth."  Commanding  a  third 
of  the  Buddhists  of  Japan  as  its  own  follow- 
ers, the  Shinshiu  sect,  with  the  prestige  of  his- 
tory and  of  great  temples  of  national  fame  to 
its  advantage,  is  now  a  reproach  to  religion, 
owing  to  the  corruption  of  the  leaders  and  the 
neglect  of  the  people  adhering  to  the  sect. 
Lightfoot,  in  his  celebrated  essay' on  the  Colos- 
sian  heresy,  remarks  that  a  religion  which  de- 
preciates the  flesh  as  being  evil  in  itself  will 
swing  back  and  forth  in  practical  life  from  the 
extreme  of  rigorous  asceticism  to  the  extreme 
of  sensual  indulgence.  His  remark  finds  an  il- 
lustration in  the  sects  of  Buddhism,  which  have 
adopted  now  a  "difficult"  and  now  an  "easy" 
path  of  salvation. 

III.  All  Things  Lost  and  the  Best  Thing 
Gained. 

Early  the  next  morning  Miss  Kawai,  who  is 
Secretary  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian  As- 
sociation in  Tokyo,  joined  me  on  the  train,  and 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        65 

we  proceeded  toward  Niigata.  Her  conversion 
to  Christianity  is  as  interesting  as  any  romance 
ever  written.  Her  father  was  a  Shinto  priest 
at  the  Sacred  Shrines  of  Ise,  the  ancestral 
shrines  of  the  Imperial  House  of  Japan,  the 
Mecca  to  which  loyal  Japanese  for  centuries 
have  made  pilgrimages.  The  family  in  which 
she  was  born  was  one  of  the  four  original 
priestly  families  of  the  Japanese  Empire,  be- 
longing to  a  line  reaching  back  to  the  very 
dawn  of  Japanese  history. 

Her  father  committed  his  business  affairs  to 
a  steward,  who  proved  to  be  an  unjust  steward 
who  "wasted  his  gains."     The  troubles  of  the 
family  increased  as   a   consequence.      "My  fa- 
ther," said  Miss  Kawai,  "when  I  was  a  small 
girl,  went  to  the  shrines   and  prayed  at   twi- 
light."    He  chose  that  hour  in  order  to  avoid 
the  crowd  which  came  daily  to  offer  worship. 
Alone  before  his  gods,  before  Ameterasu,  in  the 
twilight  of  his  religious  faith,  he  poured  out  his 
soul  and  sought  relief  from  his  troubles.     The 
family  finally  decided  to   go   to   some   distant 
place,  where  their  shame  and  humiliation  could 
be  hidden.    Her  father  held  the  sJiosi  rank,  and 
it  was  a  great  reproach,  he  felt,  thus  to  be  re- 
duced to  poverty. 
5 


66        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

They  decided  upon  Hokkaido ;  and  the  family 
migrated  northward  and  settled  in  the  wilder- 
ness, enduring  thereby  still  greater  hardships, 
for  they  had  no  experience  in  the  work  of  mak- 
ing a  living.  But  here  they  came  into  contact 
with  Christians,  in  consequence  of  which  Miss 
Kawai  was  led  into  the  faith.  "It  was  a  mar- 
velous work  of  God,"  she.  said  to  me  on  the 
train,  "how  we  came  to  know  Jesus."  These 
were  the  very  words  she  used.  She  continued 
to  tell  the  story  of  her  conversion  and  re- 
marked: "Mother  says  it  is  good  to  lose  all 
things  if  we  gain  thereby  the  best  thing."  By 
her  conversation  it  was  perfectly  apparent  that 
she  counted  all  things  loss  for  the  excellency 
of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  she  had  gained.  She 
firmly  believed  that  they  were  extricated  from 
the  age-long  and  sacred  traditions  entwined 
about  their  lives  by  the  kindly  hand  of  a  guid- 
ing Providence.  Indeed,  a  miracle  of  grace 
was  wrought  here  as  truly  as  in  the  conversion 
of  the  young  Pharisee  on  the  road  to  Damascus, 
whose  life  was  encompassed  about  at  Jerusalem 
by  family  and  ecclesiastical  relations  from 
which  nothing  short  of  a  divine  interference 
could  have  set  him  free. 

I  thought  I  could  discover  in  Miss  Kawai's 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        67 

account  of  their  conversion  as  a  result  of  their 
strange  migration  to  Hokkaido,  where  they 
were  thrown  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nitobe  and  oth- 
er Christians,  a  truer  insight  into  the  ways  of 
Providence  than  is  found  among  the  converts 
who  were,  prior  to  becoming  Christians,  either 
Buddhists  or  Confucianists.  Shintoism  does 
not  possess  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  uni- 
verse, as  do  Buddhism  and  Confucianism.  It  is 
a  rudimentary  religion  holding  to  a  primitive 
mythology  and  polytheism  and  confused  with 
various  and  sometimes  degrading  superstitions ; 
yet  the  simple  instincts  of  religion  have  been 
preserved  by  Shintoism — faith,  prayer,  and 
worship,  for  example — in  greater  vitality  than 
under  the  systems  more  developed  in  the  intel- 
lectual expression  of  religion  and  philosophy. 
In  Buddhism — that  is,  of  the  intelligent  few — 
prayer  is  mental  concentration,  while  in  Con- 
fucianism prayer  is  the  soul's  sincere  desire. 
In  both  alike  the  true  conception  of  prayer  has 
been  lost.  Miss  Kawai,  now  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  and  a  leader  among  the 
Christian  women  of  Japan,  interprets  her  de- 
liverance from  primitive  traditions  into  the  lib- 
erty of  the  gospel  as  a  particular  manifesta- 
tion of  the  gracious  providence  of  God.     Who 


68        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Ja^pan, 

knows  but  that  the  twilight  prayer,  offered  by 
her  father  at  the  shrine,  was  answered  by  Him 
before  whom  all  hearts  are  open  and  no  desires 
are  hid.  I  like  to  think  that  we  find  in  these 
promptings  of  a  childhood  and  instinctive  faith, 
in  these  faint  glimpses  of  religious  truth,  signs 
of  the  Logos  everywhere  present,  immanent  in 
law  and  custom,  language,  and  impulse,  the 
Light  that  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into 
the  world.  I  like  to  think  of  Him  as  being  the 
Source  of  every  impulse  toward  the  truth, 
of  every  inclination  toward  philosophy,  though 
philosophic  thinking  may  often  be  beside  the 
mark  and  fail  to  recognize  the  truth  of  God — 
fail  not  only  through  incapacity  to  use  the 
mind  aright,  like  a  man  who  cannot  guide  the 
motions  of  his  limbs  as  he  wishes,  but  also 
through  moral  disability,  through  the  evil  per- 
vading society  and  affecting  the  heart  of  man, 
against  which  the  wrath  of  heaven  has  been  re- 
vealed, against  all  who  hold  down  the  truth  in 
unrighteousness. 

IV.  The  Church  in  the  Country  Town. 

I  left  the  main  line  at  Niitsu  for  Shibata, 
where  an  afternoon  appointment  had  been  ar- 
ranged for  me  on  short  notice.     The  great  oil 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        69 

wells  were  visible  from  Niitsu ;  and  between  this 
place  and  Shibata  I  passed  through  level  fields 
of  rice,  the  most  of  which  had  been  harvested 
and  hung  up  on  a  framework  constructed  of 
poles  and  tied  together  with  ropes.  It  is  curi- 
ous that  so  many  different  reasons  will  be  given 
to  one  in  explanation  of  local  customs.  One 
said  that  the  rice,  put  up  in  shocks  elsewhere, 
was  suspended  on  poles,  head  downward,  in  this 
vicinity,  owing  to  the  dampness  of  the  soil.  An- 
other said  that  it  was  due  to  the  dampness  in 
the  atmosphere,  while  another  explained  that 
this  enabled  the  farmers  to  cut  their  rice  earlier. 
It  ripened  after  it  was  suspended  in  the  sun- 
Hght. 

Shibata  is  a  quiet  country  town,  with  a  num- 
ber of  schools  and  a  military  garrison.  The 
pastor.  Rev.  K.  Kokita  (Congregationalist), 
was  in  the  famous  battle  of  the  Japan  Sea  when 
Togo  destroyed  the  Russian  squadron.  His 
wife  is  a  graduate  of  the  Uyeno  Conservatory 
of  Music  and  is  the  organist  of  the  church. 
Though  the  notice  was  only  given  out  in  the 
morning,  a  good  congregation  gathered  at  one 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  I  spoke  to  them 
of  the  wonderful  beginning  and  future  history 
and  influence  of  the  Church  at  Thessalonica.     I 


70        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

sought  to  encourage  them  bj  showing  the  in- 
fluence of  congregations  in  remote  places  in  the 
progress  of  the  general  kingdom  of  Christ.  I 
cited  the  fact  that,  from  Thessalonica  north- 
ward, the  gospel  was  spread  into  regions  in 
Central  Europe,  from  which  Russian  Chris- 
tianity took  its  rise  among  the  Slavonic  people, 
and  from  which  the  fires  of  the  Reformation 
were  kindled,  and  from  which  the  Methodist 
movement  lit  its  torch.  Consequently  the  influ- 
ence of  a  congregation  was  not  to  be  measured 
by  its  geographical  location,  but  by  whether  or 
not  it  was  a  Church  "in  God  the  Father  and  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

I  walked  with  the  pastor  through  the  streets 
of  the  town.  He  was  visiting  members,  inviting 
them  and  others  to  the  preaching.  While  wait- 
ing for  him  on  one  of  the  streets  I  entered  a 
curio  store.  There  were  coats  of  mail,  hal- 
berds, swords,  porcelain  and  lacquer  wares,  and 
numerous  other  relics  of  the  old  Japan.  What 
interested  me  was  a  Buddhist  rosary,  a  string  of 
beads  which  the  dealer  claimed  was  two  hundred 
years  old.  The  heads  were  carved  of  milk-white 
and  tawny  agate  and  had  been  worn  smooth 
through  long  use  by  the  priests  in  mumbling 
their  "vain  repetitions."    I  held  them  up  to  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.       71 

light,  and  their  glow  in  the  rays  of  the  sun  was 
like  the  fires  of  the  eternal  city.     In  fact,  the 
stones  mentioned  by  John  were,  I  believe,  va- 
rieties of  the  agate  such  as  we  find  here  in 
Japan.     The  curio  dealer  asked  a  ridiculously 
small  price   for   the  beads.      He  had   another 
rosary,  made  of  the  brov/n  Nepaul  nut,  and 
these  went  well  with  the  agates.    John  said  that 
such  stones  adorned  the  bride,  the  new  Jerusa- 
lem, the  Church,  coming  down  out  of  heaven 
from  God.     What  better  souvenir,  then,  than 
these  to  take  with  me  to  Tokyo  as  a  gift  for 
tlie  golden  birthday,  just  two  days  off,  of  the 
one  who  at  my  side  for  more  than  a  quarter  of 
a  century  of  missionary  service  had  borne  with 
me  the  burdens  and  shared  the  hopes  and  joys 
of  the  vocation  to  which  we  had  been  called.? 

V.  Conservative  Niigata  Beginning  to 
Change. 

Returning  to  Niitsu,  I  took  a  train  on  the 
main  line  in  time  to  reach  Niigata  for  the  eve- 
ning services.  The  local  pastors  were  kind 
enough  to  meet  us  at  the  train  and  show  us  the 
way  to  the  residence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  B. 
Olds.  The  two  mission  residences  here  are  in 
adjoining  yards,  one  of  which  is  occupied  by 


72        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

Miss  Edith  Curtis s  and  the  other  bj  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Olds.  The  service  was  held  in  the  evening 
at  the  Presbyterian  church,  the  Episcopalian, 
Congregationalist,  and  Presbyterian  pastors 
joining  together  in  the  service.  Miss  Kawai 
was  the  first  speaker,  and  her  talk  was  deeply 
spiritual  and  very  practical.  The  building  was 
crowded  to  the  utmost  capacity.  Mats  were 
brought  in  and  spread  on  the  floor  before  the 
pulpit,  on  which  those  were  seated  who  could 
not  find  room  in  the  pews.  The  gallery  was 
filled,  and  the  stairway  to  the  gallery,  and  faces 
were  at  the  windows  on  the  outside.  No  such 
gathering  as  this  had  been  witnessed  before  in 
Niigata,  so  conservative  was  the  city.  The  at- 
tention was  good,  and  there  was  much  power 
and  assurance  in  the  preaching  of  the  Word. 

After  the  service  four  young  men  came  for- 
ward who  were  in  attendance  upon  the  lectures 
at  the  medical  college  at  that  place.  Two  of 
them  had  chosen  the  name  of  Paul,  in  addition 
to  their  own  names,  and  two  of  them  the  name 
of  Luke.  I  learned  from  them  that  a  thousand 
young  men  applied  for  admission  into  the  medi- 
cal college,  and  only  two  hundred  had  been  ac- 
cepted. Two  young  men,  also  students,  sat  at 
a  table,  taking  down  our  addresses,  which,  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        73 

pastor  said,  were  to  be  printed  and  distributed 
in  the  community  in  order  to  reach  those  who 
would  not  attend  the  public  services. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  a  theater,  rented  for 
the  purpose,  was  the  place  at  which  the  Chris- 
tians rallied,  together  with  those  who  came  in 
to  hear  the  sermons.  Beginning  at  one  o'clock, 
Dr.  H.  Kosaki,  pastor  of  the  Reinansaka  Con- 
gregational Church,  of  Tokyo,  was  the  first 
speaker.  He  related  the  story  of  his  conver- 
sion to  Christianity  at  Kumamoto.  He  was  one 
of  the  noted  Kumamoto  band,  led  to  Christ  by 
Captain  Janes.  A  school  at  Kumamoto  in  the 
early  days  requested  Dr.  Verbeck  to  send  them 
a  teacher,  and  they  preferred  a  Samurai.  Dr. 
Verbeck  informed  them  that  there  was  no  Samu- 
rai class  in  America,  but  that  he  would  do  the 
best  he  could.  He  sent  them  an  American  army 
officer,  who  led  to  Christ  a  number  of  young 
men  whose  names  afterwards  became  familiar 
to  the  nation  as  leaders  of  the  Christian  cause. 

I  followed  Dr.  Kosaki  and  spoke  for  forty 
minutes.  The  Islst  address  was  given  by  Bishop 
Y.  Hiraiwa,  the  present  Bishop  of  the  Japan 
Methodist  Church,  a  powerful  preacher  who 
presents  with  great  clearness  the  truths  of  the 
Christian  religion,  of  which  he  has  a  firm  grasp. 


74        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

Bishop  Hiraiwa  dwelt  upon  the  significance  of 
the  change  made  recently  in  the  educational 
policy  of  the  government — a  change  which  im- 
plied that  the  officials  were  about  to  assume  a 
different  attitude  toward  religion.  The  origi- 
nal policy,  adopted  by  Japan  in  imitation  of 
some  Western  countries,  involved  neutrality  to- 
ward all  religions.  Education  was  secularized; 
but  recently  the  Bureau  of  Religions  had  been 
changed  from  the  Home  Department  to  the 
Department  of  Education.  The  Bishop's  in- 
terpretation of  this  change  was  that  it  implied 
a  recognition  on  the  part  of  the  government 
that  education  was  seriously  deficient  if  it  did 
not  take  into  consideration  the  strengthening 
and  purifying  of  the  religious  nature. 

A  short  time  ago  I  was  j  ourneying  with  Bish- 
op Hiraiwa  through  the  Kofu  Valley,  a  central 
mountain  district  through  which  a  railroad  had 
been  constructed  at  great  cost.  After  leaving 
Tokyo  we  passed  through  forty-nine  tunnels, 
one  of  which  had  been  blasted  two  miles  and  a 
half  in  length  through  a  granite  mountain. 
Bishop  Hiraiwa  related  to  me  the  story  of  the 
opening  of  Christian  work  in  that  remote  region. 
Pie  walked  from  Tokyo  to  Kofu,  a  journey  of 
four  days,  and  preached  the  gospel  in  that  city. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        75 

Now,  there  were  three  self-supporting  Churches 
in  and  about  Kofu,  a  prosperous  girls'  school 
under  Methodist  auspices,  and  a  preaching  place 
in  every  village  in  the  province.  We  were  now 
riding  through  on  a  good  railway  train.  When 
preachers  went  on  foot — not,  as  now,  in  palace 
cars — the  saying  was  very  fitting:  "How  beau- 
tiful upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him 
who  bringeth  good  tidings !" 

At  night,  meetings  were  held  in  three 
churches.  Bishop  Hiraiwa  preached  in  the 
Presbyterian  church.  Dr.  Kosaki  preached  in 
the  Episcopalian  church,  and  I  was  assigned  to 
preach  in  the  Congregational  church.  The 
rain  was  coming  down,  and  the  congregations 
were  small. 

On  Monday  I  returned  to  Tokyo  and  had  as 
my  traveling  companions  Miss  Kawai  and  Dr. 
Sasao,  the  latter  Dean  of  the  Theological  De- 
partment of  the  Tohoku  Gakuin  (Reformed 
Church  of  the  United  States).  At  Takasaki 
we  purchased  lunch  boxes,  and  I  was  compelled 
to  eat  with  chopsticks,  somewhat  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  other  passengers.  The  lunch, 
which  cost  twenty-five  sen,  was  put  up  in  two 
boxes,  one  of  which  contained  rice  and  the  oth- 
er of  which  was   supplied  with  the  following: 


76        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

Eggs  and  bean  curd  (mixed)  ;  small  pieces  of 
beef  (stewed);  fried  eel;  mushrooms;  bamboo 
root ;  burdock  root ;  lotus  root ;  ginger  root ; 
caladium  root;  daikon,  or  "great  root"  (a  large 
radish). 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
foods  supplied  grew  underground.  With  the 
lunch  box  a  paper  napkin,  bamboo  toothpicks, 
and  chopsticks  were  supplied.  We  also  bought 
a  pot  of  tea,  with  the  cup  thrown  in,  for  four 
sen,  or  two  cents  in  American  money.  We 
reached  home  at  9:40  p.m.,  wearied  from  the 
long  journey. 


CAMPAIGN  AT  SHIDZUOKA,  HAMA- 
MATSU,  AND  KEGA. 

I.  On  the  Shores  of  the  Geeat  Ocean. 

Besides  the  shuyohwai  which  I  attended  at 
Shidzuoka,  a  great  tea-sliipping  port  and  one 
of  the  most  successful  fields  of  the  Canadian 
Methodist  Mission,  I  took  part  in  campaigns 
along  this  coast  at  Hamamatsu  and  Kega.  On 
September  28  I  left  the  Shimbashi  station  in 
Tokyo  at  7:40  a.m.  for  the  Mamamatsu  cam- 
paign. The  equinoctial  storms  were  over.  Ap- 
parently the  autumn  weather,  so  delightful  in 
Japan,  had  set  in.  It  is  at  this  time  of  the 
year,  during  these  days  of  flawless  purity,  that 
much  touring  is  done  by  Christian  missionaries 
and  pastors. 

On  the  train  I  met  Rev.  Dr.  Ebina,  pas- 
tor of  the  Hongo  Congregational  Church  in 
Tokyo,  and  the  Honorable  S.  Ebara,  member 
of  the  House  of  Lords  and  Methodist  layman, 
who  were  to  be  fellow  workers  in  the  campaign 
at  Hamamatsu.  Dr.  Ebina  has  been  in  the 
pastorate  for  thirty  years  and  is  also  the  edi- 
tor of  a  monthly  magazine.  He  is  looked  upon 
as    the    most    eloquent    and    forceful    speaker 

(77) 


78        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

among  the  Japanese  Christians.  Mr.  Ebara  is 
a  venersMe  statesman,  now  seventy-three  years 
of  age,  and  is  one  of  the  most  highly  respected 
and  honored  men  of  the  empire.  After  a  long 
service  in  the  Lower  House,  he  was  made  a  peer 
and  is  still  active  in  politics  and  in  many  other 
spheres  of  national  life. 

On  this  journey  our  train  passed  around  the 
base  of  Mount  Fuji.  Hokusai,  the  celebrated 
artist  of  Japan,  executed  a  picture  book,  the 
title  of  which  is  "Fuji  Hyakkei;  or,  A  Hun- 
dred Views  of  Fuji."  The  mountain  is  depicted 
by  him  from  various  points  of  view.  We  were 
favored  on  this  particular  day  with  one  of  the 
numerous  superb  views  that  may  be  had  of  this 
peerless  mountain.  It  would  be  more  correct 
to  portray  a  thousand  views  than  a  hundred 
views  of  Fuji.  One  of  the  marvels  of  nature  is 
its  versatility.  Nature  to  the  poet,  says  the 
Buddhist,  is  many  and  to  the  philosopher  is 
one.  Hence,  he  concludes,  the  poetic  view  is 
false.  But  the  fact  that  "one  star  diifereth 
from  another  star  in  glory"  is  an  intimation  of 
the  wealth  of  the  fundamental  Reality.  God  is 
not  a  blank,  such  as  the  pantheists  would  make 
him  out  to  be  by  their  abstractions.     Better, 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        79 

with  Thomson,  to  see  in  the  changing  seasons 
manifestations  of  the  "varied  God." 

I  had  seen  Mount  Fuji  on  many  occasions, 
once  as  a  phantom  in  the  night,  blanketed  with 
snow,  as  vague  and  spectral  and  solitary  as  a 
landscape  in  the  moon;  once  at  sunset  from 
our  home  in  Tokyo,  when  the  sun  dropped 
down  directly  behind  the  mountain,  giving  Fuji 
once  more  the  appearance  of  a  volcano,  down 
the  slopes  of  which  could  be  seen  running  mol- 
ten lava,  like  a  torrent  of  fire.  Now  from  the 
train  window  the  great  peak  stood  out  clearly 
marked  against  the  sky.  A  single  wreath  of 
white,  fluffy,  silken  cloud  lay  about  the  moun- 
tain like  a  sash  hung  loosely  around  the  body 
of  a  young  girl.  The  picture  was  one  of  deli- 
cate and  exquisite  beauty.  Above  the  cloud  the 
summit  rose  proudly  in  the  surrounding  atmos- 
phere; while  the  lower  part  of  the  mountain 
seemed  draped  with  a  gorgeous  skirt,  orna- 
mented with  figures  of  forests  and  green  fields 
just  beginning  to  be  tinged  with  gold.  It  was 
a  new  view  of  Fuji,  possibly  one  of  the  hyahkei, 
or  "hundred  views." 

After  a  rest  at  Hamamatsu,  which  we  reached 
at  two  in  the  afternoon,  at  the  home  of  Rev.  H. 
E.  Walker,  of  the  Canadian  Methodist  Mission, 


80        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

I  started  for  Kega  by  jinrikisha,  a  ride  of  two 
hours  through  fields  of  rice,  tea,  tobacco,  mul- 
berry trees  (the  leaves  of  which  are  for  silk- 
worms), and  other  products  of  the  farm.  We 
passed  a  military  garrison  and  schoolhouses, 
public  schools  and  technical  schools.  On  the 
way  the  scarlet  equinoctial  flower  (Jiiganbana) 
attracted  attention  by  its  contrast  with  the  au- 
tumn browns.  The  Japanese  dislike  this  flow- 
er. They  condemn  it  because  it  grows  in  ceme- 
teries, a  point  which  would  seem  to  be  in  its 
favor,  suggesting  the  resurrection. 

Dr.  Ebina  went  immediately  by  boat  from 
Hamamatsu  and  reached  Kega  before  my  ar- 
rival. We  were  entertained  together  at  a  quiet 
Japanese  Christian  home.  The  meeting  was 
held  in  the  public  theater,  and  at  night  we  found 
about  five  hundred  gathered  to  hear  the  Chris- 
tian addresses,  most  of  the  number,  as  in  Jap- 
anese audiences  usually,  being  men.  In  spite  of 
our  surroundings,  the  impressions  made  seemed 
to  be  solemn  and  effective.  I  spoke  of  the  "Per- 
fect Life"  and  pointed  out  that  the  Christian 
religion  sought  to  produce  sound,  healthful,  ro- 
bust men,  qualified  by  the  spiritual  life  for  all 
legitimate  callings  here,  as  well  as  for  citizen- 
ship in  the  kingdom  of  the  future  world.     In  a 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        81 

land  long  influenced  bj  Buddhism,  a  religion 
"sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought," 
such  a  message,  I  believed,  would  be  pertinent. 
It  was,  in  truth,  a  reaction  from  the  monastic 
ideal  that  gave  point  to  the  Wesleyan  doctrine 
of  Christian  perfection.  Any  one  reading 
Law's  "Serious  Call,"  the  book  that  influenced 
Wesley,  will  find  Christian  perfection  in  every- 
day life  set  over  against  the  Roman  Catholic 
ideal  of  perfection,  characterized  by  voluntary 
poverty,  celibacy,  and  obedience.  In  other 
words,  the  Roman  Catholics,  like  the  Buddhists, 
thought  that  the  perfect  life  could  not  be  lived 
except  by  those  who  had  surrendered  the  ordi- 
nary life.  This  phase  of  Wesley's  teaching  was 
never  taken  into  consideration  by  later  genera- 
tions. Christian  perfection,  seen  from  this 
point  of  view,  was  very  practical  and  was  a  re- 
covery of  the  Church's  true  teaching  as  regards 
the  possibility  of  spiritual  living  in  the  present 
life  and  under  ordinary  social  conditions. 

Dr.  Ebina's  views  have  undergone  a  change  in 
the  course  of  years  since  he  entered  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.  He  at  one  time  appeared  on  the 
platform  always  in  Japanese  garb.  He  was  an 
intense  nationalist.  He  thought  that  he  was 
able  to  find  Christianity  implicit  in  the  national 
6 


82        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

mythology  of  Shintoism.  Now  he  wears  Eu- 
ropean dress.  He  is  an  eloquent  exponent  of 
the  universalism  in  Christianity.  He  sees  that 
the  mythology  and  polytheism  of  Japan  are  not 
only  no  longer  useful,  but  have  become  injuri- 
ous to  the  nation.  They  are  an  impediment, 
interfering  with  the  free  intercourse  of  Japan 
with  enlightened  nations.  The  tribal  conscious- 
ness and  local  affections  of  the  Japanese 
people  must  yield  to  the  spiritual  universal- 
ism in  the  religion  of  Christ  before  Japan  can 
hope  to  reach  the  highest  plane  of  national 
living. 

In  Dr.  Ebina's  address  at  Kega  there  was 
one  point  full  of  dramatic  power.  It  was  when 
he  touched  upon  the  loyalty  of  Christians  to 
their  God,  which  to  many  in  the  audience  was 
an  unjustifiable  renunciation  of  their  duty  to 
Japan,  and  especially  to  their  ancestors.  "I 
would  stand  by  the  grave  of  my  ancestors," 
said  Dr.  Ebina,  "and  declare  to  them  that  I  no 
longer  worshiped  the  deities  they  worshiped, 
but  that  my  devotion  was  to  the  true  and  living 
God,  who  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth ;  and 
I  believe  that  if  they  could  speak  to  me  from 
beyond  the  grave  their  words  would  be  full  of 
commendation    and    approval    and    that    they 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        83 

would  declare,  from  the  point  of  view  they  oc- 
cupy with  the  fuller  knowledge  which  they  no 
doubt  enjoy,  that  we  in  our  devotion  to  the 
true  and  living  God  were  right !" 

The  solemnity  and  impressiveness  of  Dr. 
Ebina's  address  was  somev«^hat  marred  at  the 
close  by  the  appearance  on  the  platform  of  a 
crazy  man,  who  began  to  utter  incoherent  sen- 
tences in  an  attempt  to  make  a  speech.  The 
crowd  soon  Tetired  from  the  building,  and  only 
a  few  remained  to  hear  what  the  self-commis- 
sioned speaker  had  to  say. 

After  returning  to  the  Japanese  home  where 
we  were  being  entertained,  a  bowl  of  rice,  with 
fried  eels  dipped  in  shoyu  (sauce)  and  laid  on 
the  rice,  was  brought  to  me.  I  had  eaten  an 
early  supper  before  leaving  Hamamatsu.  Be- 
fore going  to  the  night  meeting  the  discussion 
had  turned  on  the  kahayahe  in  Tokyo,  a  dish 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Ebina  as  being  relished  by 
the  Tokyo  people.  I  remarked  that  I  was  very 
fond  of  the  Tokyo  Jcabayake,  I  did  not  know 
then  that  Kega  was  famous  for  its  eels.  After 
the  meeting,  this  delicious  feast  was  brought 
in  as  an  expression  of  the  genuine  hospitality 
the  Japanese  Christians  desired  to  show  to 
us. 


S4i       Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

The  next  morning,  before  leaving,  autograph 
albums  were  brought  in,  beautiful  volumes 
bound  in  stiff  board  binding,  covered  with  bro- 
caded silk.  I  declined  to  write  in  these  beauti- 
ful books  with  an  instrument  so  mechanical  as 
our  steel  pen.  The  Japanese  write  with  a  brush, 
and  calligraphy  with  them  is  a  fine  art.  It 
seemed  out  of  all  propriety  to  put  down  in  a 
book  filled  with  classic  passages,  written  with  a 
Japanese  brush,  the  scrawling  sentences  which 
I  write  with  a  foreign  pen.  The  friends,  how- 
ever, insisted  that  it  would  be  all  right,  so  I  de- 
cided to  leave  a  testimony  for  those  who  looked 
daily  upon  the  great  Pacific  Ocean.  In  one 
album  I  wrote: 

"There's  a  wideness  in  God's  mercy 
Like  the  wideness  of  the  sea." 

In  another  I  wrote  this  sentence:  "My  heart's 
desire  and  prayer  to  God  is  that  Japan  might  be 
saved."  In  a  third  album  (some  of  these  were 
brought  in  by  the  neighbors)  I  left  Augustine's 
great  statement  as  a  testimony :  "The  human 
heart  was  made  for  God,  and  God  alone  can 
satisfy  it." 

After  kind  and  hearty  words  of  parting,  we 
returned  by  jinrikisha  to  Hamamatsu. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        85 

II.  The  Sabbath  the  Corner  Stone  of 
Civilization. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  addressed 
a  meeting  of  women.  A  Japanese  audience  is, 
under  all  circumstances,  very  formal.  The 
women,  if  anything,  are  more  formal  than  thei 
men.  Dr.  H.  Hosaki,  of  Tokyo,  gave  the  first 
address.  When  he  appeared,  on  being  intro- 
duced, the  entire  audience  bowed,  the  heads  of 
the  women  moving  like  grain  swayed  by  the 
wind.  Dr.  Kosaki  had  to*  hurry  on  to  Kega, 
where  he  was  to  speak  that  night.  There  is 
much  discussion  in  Japan  of  the  question  of  the 
larger  life  of  womanhood.  The  old  ideals  have 
become  too  narrow  for  the  women  of  to-day, 
trained  in  the  schools  and  influenced  by  Chris- 
tian civilization.  But  there  is  much  confusion 
of  mind  as  to  just  what  is  the  nature  of  the 
larger  life  a  woman  should  seek  to  live.  In  my 
address  I  chose  Frances  Willard  as  a  classical 
example  of  what  a  woman  could  do  beyond  the 
circle  of  the  home. 

At  night  the  meeting  was  held,  as  was  the 
afternoon  meeting  for  women,  within  the  pre- 
cincts of  a  Shinto  temple,  in  a  public  hall  used 
for  fencing.    There  was  a  good  turnout  of  men, 


86        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

and  the  attention  was  good.  Dr.  Ebina  was 
again  my  fellow  laborer,  and  he  grew  eloquent 
as  he  spoke  of  the  failure  of  science  in  Germany 
and  Japan  and  of  the  need  of  spiritual  efficiency 
and  moral  power  in  these  two  nations.  Ger- 
many and  Japan  both  alike  seemed  to  be  found- 
ing their  national  hopes  upon  modern  science. 
Now  both  nations  were  seen  to  be  lacking  in  the 
spiritual  elements  which  form  the  higher  civili- 
zation. 

It  was  not  without  embarrassment  that  I 
stood  before  this  audience  to  commend  to  those 
present  a  religion  professed  by  nations  now  en- 
gaged in  deadly  strife.  I  made  a  frank  confes- 
sion that  those  of  us  who  had  been  called  to  the 
ministry  had  not  been  as  faithful  in  giving  our 
testimony  to  the  truth  as  we  should  have  been. 
I  had  to  acknowledge  also  that  a  spirit  of 
worldliness  had  gained  undue  prevalence  among 
Christian  nations.  The  need,  however,  was  not 
for  less  of  Christianity,  but  for  more  of  it.  I 
believed  that  the  cause  of  the  war  in  Europe 
was  the  awakening  of  the  Teutonic  and  Slavonic 
peoples.  The  world  was  witnessing  a  gigantic 
struggle  between  vigorous  races.  In  the  his- 
tory of  the  Church,  Christianity  had  gained 
spiritual  supremacy  over  various  forms  of  secu- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        87 

lar  power.  In  the  industrial  era  in  modern 
times  we  had  witnessed  the  conquest  of  wealth 
by  the  Christian  religion,  resulting  in  the  sub- 
ordination of  capital  to  the  service  of  human- 
ity. We  might  with  reasonable  faith  seek  to 
bring  racial  movements  under  the  dominion  of 
Christ.  It  was  a  great  task,  but  the  tasks  un- 
dertaken by  faith  were  never  too  great  for  hope. 
The  next  night  the  rain  was  coming  down  in 
torrents.  Mr.  Ebara  was  the  honored  fellow 
w^orker  wdth  me  for  this  service.  The  attend- 
ance was  cut  down  owing  to  the  rain.  This  was 
a  matter  of  regret,  for  Mr.  Ebara  gave  a  most 
practical  discourse  on  the  relation  between  Sab- 
bath observance  and  the  prosperity  of  a  nation. 
This  distinguished  Christian  is  noted  for  his 
simplicity  of  manner  and  plainness  of  living. 
He  has  declined  all  titles  and  has  remained  satis- 
fied with  a  modest  income.  His  probity  has 
never  been  doubted,  and  he  is  the  trusted  coun- 
selor of  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  empire. 
His  Christian  devotion  is  a  matter  of  great  en- 
couragement to  those  interested  in  the  progress 
of  the  gospel  in  Japan.  At  ten  o'clock  that 
evening  we  boarded  the  train.  Mr.  Ebara  took 
for  his  bed  the  long  seat  at  the  side  of  Japa- 
nese trains  and  covered  himself  with  a  blanket 


88        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

in  order  to  catch  a  little  sleep  between  this 
station  and  the  point  where  he  intended  to 
get  off  at  two  o'clock  that  morning.  His  years 
are  more  than  threescore  and  ten,  and  yet  he  is 
strenuous  in  his  efforts  for  the  Christian  cause. 
No  more  interesting  life  could  be  found  than 
that  of  Mr.  Ebara.  He  has  passed  from  the 
best  attainable  under  the  old  order  to  the  best 
attainable  under  Christianity.  The  prevailing 
social  deterioration  has  not  affected  him  in  spir- 
it or  in  life.  His  life  has  been  cast  in  the  midst 
of  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  His  Christian  in- 
tegrity has  stood  out  in  noticeable  contrast  to 
the  skepticism,  luxury,  corruption,  and  greed 
for  gain  characteristic  of  the  period.  Such 
men  are  a  light — and  there  are  not  a  few  of 
them — over  against  a  background  on  which 
many  heavy  shadows  have  fallen. 


CAMPAIGN  IN  THREE  PREFECTURES. 

Hiroshima. 

/.  Tribal  Consciousness  and  Consciousness  of 

Sonsliip. 

I  WAS  asked  by  the  Committee  of  the  Western 
Section — that  is,  of  the  division  of  Japan 
known  as  the  Kwansei — to  take  part  in  the 
campaign  planned  for  three  prefectures — name- 
ly, the  Hiroshima  and  Yamaguchi  Prefectures, 
on  the  mainland,  and  the  Ehime  Prefecture,  on 
the  island  of  Shikoku.  The  campaign  was  to 
extend  from  November  7  to  15. 

Before  the  time  came  for  me  to  depart  for 
the  campaign,  letters  began  to  reach  me  from 
different  points  at  which  I  was  assigned  to 
speak  asking  me  to  send  on  in  advance  the  sub- 
ject of  the  sermon  I  was  to  preach  at  each 
particular  place.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  such 
a  request  could  not  reasonably  be  complied 
with,  inasmuch  as  plans  had  been  made  for  me 
to  speak  two  and  three  times  a  day  to  audi- 
ences of  various  kinds — some  in  churches,  some 
in  theater  buildings,  some  in  schools  and  hos- 
pitals, and  others  in  private  houses. 

On  November  6,  in  the  afternoon,  I  boarded 
the  fast  mail  train  at  the  Shimbashi  station,  in 

(89) 


90        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

Tokyo.  Little  men  dressed  in  uniform  stood 
at  the  gates  to  punch  the  tickets.  The  throng 
poured  through  the  gates,  making  a  great  clat- 
tering noise  walking  over  the  granitoid  plat- 
form with  their  wooden  sandals  as  they  hurried 
to  the  train.  Armies  nowadays  are  mobilizing, 
but  the  people  have  already  mobilized.  Wher- 
ever one  goes  now  the  population  is  in  motion. 
The  railway  trains  are  crowded  with  men  and 
women  who  are  moving  from  place  to  place  and 
who  are  in  pursuit  of  various  ends. 

The  journey  was  broken  at  Hiroshima,  where 
the  first  meeting  was  to  take  place.  This  city 
was  reached  after  a  run  of  twenty-four  hours, 
after  the  train  had  passed  through  many  im- 
portant cities — Yokohama,  Shizuoka,  Nagoya, 
Kyoto,  Osaka,  Kobe,  and  Okayama. 

Three  hundred  women  had  gathered  for  the 
afternoon  preaching  service  in  the  public  hall 
at  Hiroshima.  Many  of  the  prominent  women 
of  the  city  were  present,  including,  it  was  said, 
the  wife  of  the  governor  of  the  prefecture. 
Madam  Hirooka  and  Rev.  T.  Makino,  pastor 
of  a  Congregational  Church  in  Kyoto,  were  to 
speak  at  this  meeting,  at  which  I  was  also  ex- 
pected to  make  an  address.  Madam  Hirooka 
was  speaking  when  I  arrived.     I  have  already 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        91 

mentioned  that  she  is  very  outspoken  and  di- 
rect in  her  appeals  to  the  audiences  addressed 
by  her.  When  I  entered  the  hall,  the  first  word 
I  heard  in  her  address  was  ippu  ippu,  a  fa- 
miliar expression  in  the  Japanese  language, 
meaning  "One  husband,  one  wife."  Mr.  Makino 
followed,  and  in  his  address  he  had  much  to  say 
of  the  ryosai-hemho  theory  of  a  woman's  place 
in  life.  This  term  translated  literally  means, 
"Good  wife,  wise  mother."  It  sums  up  wom- 
an's purpose  in  the  world  according  to  the  tra- 
ditional view. 

When  it  came  my  turn  to  speak,  it  was  a 
quarter  to  five  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  hope- 
less to  battle  against  fate,  for  the  duties  of  a 
Japanese  wife  at  that  hour  of  the  day  were  too 
exacting  to  be  set  aside  in  a  moment.  I  re- 
marked that,  according  to  the  ideal  of  a  ryosai- 
hemho,  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  was  a  most 
important  hour  in  the  household  for  the  wife  or 
mother.  I  would,  therefore,  not  undertake  to 
encroach  on  their  duties  as  thus  interpreted.  I 
asked  the  ladies  present  to  consider  the  signifi- 
cance of  Christ  for  womanhood,  for  the  home, 
and  for  the  nation  and  took  my  seat.  It  was 
perhaps  fortunate  that  the  speakers  who  had 
preceded  me  had  filled  up  the  time  with  earnest 


92        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

addresses.  It  is  extremely  unwise  to  give  no 
place  for  an  interval  between  a  long  railway 
journey  and  a  public  address. 

At  night  a  large  audience  of  men  and  a  few 
women  came  to  the  same  place,  where  the  three 
speakers  of  the  afternoon  were  again  announced 
to  make  addresses.  Small  flags  of  many  na- 
tions, hung  in  diagonal  rows  across  just  be- 
neath the  ceiling,  formed  a  pretty  festoon  over 
the  heads  of  the  people.  When  Madam  Hi- 
rooka  came  on  the  platform  and  announced 
that  she  would  speak  on  "The  Sonship  of 
Believers,"  just  at  that  moment  the  noise 
could  be  heard  from  the  streets  outside  made 
by  the  crowds  shouting  over  the  fall  of  Tsing- 
tau.  The  flags  of  the  struggling  nations  were 
there  before  our  eyes,  symbols  of  the  tribal 
consciousness.  The  surrounding  noises,  the 
flags,  the  state  of  war,  all  gave  to  Madam  Hi- 
rooka's  interpretation  of  sonship  as  the  deep- 
est reality  in  life  a  peculiar  significance.  Paul's 
words  were  echoing  and  reechoing  in  my  mind 
as  I  looked  at  the  flags  and  listened  to  the 
speaker:  "For  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of 
the  present  time  are  not  to  be  compared  with 
the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us.  For 
the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  wait- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        93 

eth  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God." 
The  task  of  giving  universal  reality  to  the 
consciousness  of  sonship  never  seemed  more 
stupendous  nor  more  glorious  than  at  that 
hour. 

No  one  can  understand  the  New  Testament 
who  does  not  see  in  the  deep  struggles  reflected 
in  its  pages  between  Judaism  and  the  early 
Christian  movement  a  clash  between  tribal  an- 
cestry and  sonship  based  on  the  new  birth.  To 
the  Jews  who  declared,  "We  are  Abraham's 
seed,"  Jesus  replied:  "My  word  hath  no  place 
in  you."  "We  be  Abraham's  seed,  and  were 
never  in  bondage  to  any  man,"  the  Jews  proud- 
ly declared.  And  to  this  the  Saviour  re- 
sponded: "If  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye 
shall  be  free  indeed."  It  was  to  those  who  re- 
lied upon  descent  in  Israel  that  John  opposed 
the  new  Israel  when  speaking  of  those  who  would 
achieve  citizenship  by  moral  character:  "He 
that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things;  and  I 
will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son."  The 
tribal  consciousness  is  as  strong  among  the 
present-day  Japanese  as  it  was  among  the  Jews 
in  the  time  of  Christ.  The  Japanese  regard 
their  lineage  as  autochthonous.  The  emperor 
is  the  father  of  the  people.     All  trace  their  de- 


94        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

scent,   directly   or   indirectly,   to   the   imperial 
line. 

On  our  way  to  the  home  of  Rev.  J.  T.  Mey- 
ers, where  we  were  being  entertained,  I  observed 
changes  in  the  city  of  Hiroshima  marking  prog- 
ress. Streets  had  been  widened,  tram  cars  were 
running,  and,  in  place  of  the  frame  building  in 
which  our  people  had  worshiped  for  many 
years,  there  stood  a  new  brick  structure  soon 
to  be  dedicated.  On  our  left  as  we  walked 
along  we  passed  a  great  group  of  buildings  cov- 
ering an  entire  block.  This  was  the  Hiroshima 
Girls'  School,  begun  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  by  Miss  N.  B.  Gaines,  whose  monumental 
work  is  a  testimony  to  her  consecration  and 
genius.  It  was  here  that  "Frances  Little" 
(Mrs.  Fannie  McCauley)  wrote  the  letters 
which  gave  her  world  fame  when  she  afterwards 
published  them  under  the  title  "Lady  of  the 
Decoration." 

//.  The  Fall  of  the  DeviVs  Castle, 

The  next  morning,  November  8,  I  was  out 
early  in  order  to  catch  the  train  to  Yanai.  The 
run  was  short  and  along  the  coast  of  the  Inland 
Sea.  Miyajima  was  passed  on  the  left,  one  of 
the  three  great  views  of  Japan,  an  island  not 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.        95 

far  from  shore  and  on  this  occasion  glowing 
with  ijeculiar  beauty  in  the  morning  hght. 
Formed  of  a  range  of  hills  not  more  than  two 
thousand  feet  in  height,  indented  with  valleys 
and  covered  with  foliage,  Miyajima,  or  Temple 
Island,  is  a  spot  which  has  attracted  visitors 
from  many  lands.  Though  sacred  to  Shinto,  it 
is  rather  a  symbol  of  Buddhism.  On  the  island 
no  birth  or  death,  it  is  said,  has  ever  taken 
place.  It  is,  therefore,  a  symbol  of  the  abso- 
lute; for  to  the  Buddhists  the  finite  world  is 
the  realm  of  birth  and  death.  To  those  who 
contemplate  with  a  sense  of  dread  eternal 
change  the  unbroken  calm  of  Miyajima  must 
be  attractive. 

Our  train  wheeled  around  curves,  along  the 
seashore,  bringing  into  view  picturesque  scenes 
— islands  in  the  dim  distance  and  islands  as  near 
and  as  distinct  in  outline  as  an  experience  of 
yesterday.  There  were  white  sails  hovering 
over  the  tranquil  sea.  There  were  small  steam- 
ers plowing  the  quiet  waters,  carrying  bur- 
dens of  peaceful  commerce.  There  were  also 
torpedo  destroyers,  monstrous-looking  vessels, 
harshly  discordant  with  the  chai-m  and  undis- 
turbed peace  of  the  surrounding  scene. 

At  the  station  at  Yanai  I  was  pleasantly  sur- 


96        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

prised  to  find  one  of  the  first  converts  after  I 
took  up  missionary  work  in  Japan,  Rev.  S. 
Kudo,  in  charge  of  the  Methodist  Church  at 
that  place.  The  Methodists  and  Presbyterians 
met  together  in  the  morning,  the  congregations 
combined  numbering  not  more  than  a  score  of 
persons  present.  Their  number  was  small,  yet 
they  had  the  courage  of  true  faith.  They  had 
been  bold  enough  to  rent  a  theater  building  for 
the  night  meeting.  Still  their  courage  sank 
within  them  when  it  was  announced  that  the  fall 
of  Tsing-tau  would  be  celebrated  with  a  street 
parade  that  night.  The  Christians,  when  they 
called  at  the  hotel  during  the  afternoon,  were 
very  nervous,  lest  the  parade  should  interfere 
with  the  attendance  at  the  meeting.  Rev.  N. 
Fukada  arrived  in  time  for  the  night  meeting 
and  was  to  be  one  of  the  speakers. 

It  was  useless  to  try  to  escape  giving  a  sub- 
ject for  the  evening  meeting.  In  view  of  the 
celebration  announced,  I  gave  them  as  the  sub- 
ject of  my  discourse  "YoJcujo  no  Kanraku.'* 
Translated,  it  means,  "Downfall  of  the  Lust 
(or  Devil's)  Castle."  The  supper  was  brought 
and  consisted  of  crab,  raw  red  snapper,  a  shell- 
fish something  like  a  clam,  seaweed,  mushrooms, 
and  rice.     There  was  a  chill  in  the  atmosphere, 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,       97 

so  the  brazier  was  brought  in,  a  bronze  vessel 
the  size  of  a  water  bucket.  It  was  filled  with 
ashes,  in  the  middle  of  which  a  few  lumps  of 
charcoal  burned  with  a  red  glow,  before  which 
we  warmed  our  bodies  through  the  palms  of  our 
hands. 

When  we  left  the  hotel  after  supper  for  the 
theater  meeting,  the  lantern  procession  had  be- 
gun. Through  a  narrow  street  winding  toward 
us  down  the  mountain  side  the  procession 
passed,  moving  in  our  direction  like  a  current 
of  glowing  fire,  for  all  the  people  carried 
lighted  paper  lanterns,  red  in  color.  There 
were  many  young  children  in  the  procession, 
schoolboys  and  girls,  and  their  voices  rang  out 
above  the  rest  into  the  night  as  they  cried: 
^'Nippon  hatta;  Doitsu  maketa'^  (Japan  victo- 
rious; Germany  defeated). 

To  our  surprise  and  satisfaction,  the  theater 
building  was  soon  filled.  For  two  hours  the 
gospel  was  preached,  first  by  myself  and  then 
by  Mr.  Fukada.  It  is  always  interesting  to 
listen  to  Japanese  preachers  interpreting  from 
their  point  of  view  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Many 
quaint  illustrations  find  a  place  in  their  dis- 
course. Some  of  these — in  fact,  many  of  them 
— are  more  in  accord  with  Biblical  usage  than 
7 


98        Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

the  figures  and  terms  used  by  us.  For  example, 
the  contrast  between  head  and  heart  is  never 
heard  in  their  discourse.  Mr.  Fukada  in  his 
sermon  remarked  that  "Japanese  young  men 
were  filling  their  heads  with  knowledge,  but 
their  Jiara  were  empty."  Now,  hara  does  not 
mean  the  heart,  but  the  cavity  of  the  body  be- 
low the  diaphragm !  It  is  almost  equivalent,  in 
Japanese  psychological  usage,  to  the  Greek 
word  splanchnoi  in  the  New  Testament  and 
used  by  Paul  when  he  said  to  the  Corinthians: 
"Ye  are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels" 
Orientals  locate  the  passions  in  the  viscera 
("bowels  of  mercies").  I  heard  another  Jap- 
anese speaker,  putting  his  right  hand  on  his 
riarht  side  and  his  left  hand  on  his  left  side  and 
both  just,  below  the  stomach,  exclaim:  "We 
Japanese  need  more  personality."  On  the  way 
to  the  hotel  from  the  meeting  that  night  an- 
other Scriptural  figure  was  used  by  a  layman 
in  the  church  at  Yanai.  He  said:  "We  were 
uneasy  after  we  had  engaged  the  theater  build- 
ing when  it  was  given  out  that  a  lantern  pro- 
cession would  be  held.  We  feared  our  Christian 
project  would  fall  through;  but  it  was  wrong 
for  us  to  think  that  God's  hand  was  thus  short- 
ened,''^     In    Isaiah    it    is    said:    "Is    my    hand 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,        99 

shortened  at  all,  that  it  cannot  redeem?"  The 
Christians  were  elated  over  the  outcome  of  the 
meeting.  Their  faith  had  been  rewarded.  It 
goes  a  long  way  toward  securing  permanent  re- 
sults when  local  leaders,  not  depending  alto- 
gether upon  the  visiting  speakers,  enter  thus 
heartily  in  the  campaign.  Before  I  left  Yanai 
I  heard  the  Presbyterians  discussing  the  ques- 
tion of  erecting  a  church  building. 

///.  Coming  Again  with  Rejoicing, 

On  November  9,  in  crossing  the  Inland  Sea 
from  Hiroshima  to  Matsuyama,  I  retraced  a 
journey  taken  twenty-six  years  ago,  when  I 
was  on  the  way  to  Oita,  my  first  mission  sta- 
tion. At  that  time  we  changed  at  Matsuyama 
from  the  small  steamer  plying  between  Hiro- 
shima and  Matsuyama  to  a  larger  vessel  run- 
ning from  Osaka  to  points  on  the  island  of 
Kyushiu. 

The  Inland  Sea  at  any  time  is  an  interesting 
body  of  water.  If  nature  dreams,  this  sea 
must  be  one  of  its  dreams,  so  fantastic  are  its 
island  forms,  so  wandering  are  its  shore  lines, 
so  subtle  and  even  ethereal  are  the  gradations  of 
shade  and  color  on  its  ever-changing  surface. 
But  on  this  occasion,  as  we  approached  the  har- 


100      Campaigriing  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

bor  at  Matsuyama,  there  was  a  mist  everywhere. 
Sky  and  sea  were  watery  and  gray,  and  not  a 
line  or  color  was  observable  anywhere.  Yet  the 
light  of  the  midday  sun  was  sufficiently  diffused 
through  the  mist  to  impart  to  the  surface  of 
the  sea  a  sheen  of  light  peculiarly  soft  and  me- 
tallic in  appearance.  There  was  an  indescrib- 
able mellowness  in  sea  and  sky  as  the  ship  gen- 
tly glided  along,  a  tenderness  like  the  mercies 
of  the  Lord,  which  are  over  all  his  works, 

A  large  theater  building  had  been  secured 
for  the  meeting  at  Matsuyama,  about  the  only 
public  building  available,  and  a  successful  gath- 
ering the  night  before  was  reported  to  us.  On 
the  platform  there  was  an  organ  played  by 
Miss  Bates,  a  local  missionary ;  and  from  a  vio- 
lin Mr.  Bennett,  also  a  missionary,  drew  sweet 
music  to  the  delight  of  the  audience.  As  is 
their  custom,  the  Christians  had  brought  flow- 
ers with  which  to  ornament  the  platform.  Usu- 
ally these  are  in  a  single  vase  and  consist  of  a 
branch  of  a  tree  or  a  bunch  of  flowers  placed 
within.  This  time  there  was  a  great  vase  on 
the  platform  containing  fiery  red  coxcombs 
and  a  branch  of  the  Japanese  t/atsude,  or 
"eight-handed"  fatsia,  an  evergreen  shrub  of 
the  ginseng  family.     Around  the  ceiling  there 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      101 

hung  in  rows  more  than  a  hundred  Japanese 
lanterns  cylindrical  in  form  and  large  in  size. 
These  were  not  lighted,  for  the  room  was  illumi- 
nated with  a  cluster  of  electric  burners  on  a 
chandelier  pendent  from  the  center  of  the  ceil- 
ing and  with  numerous  individual  burners  glow- 
ing everywhere  in  the  auditorium.  The  dimness 
of  these  burners  only  served  to  add  a  touch  of 
mystery  to  the  scene.  Back  of  the  platform, 
where  the  stage  curtains  were  operated,  strips 
of  paper  ten  feet  in  length  and  a  foot  in  width, 
attached  at  the  top  and  hanging  loose  at  the 
ends,  swayed  gently  in  the  breeze  coming  in 
from  the  open  windows.  On  each  of  these  was 
written  the  name  of  one  speaker  and  the  subject 
of  his  discourse.  The  people  sat  on  the  floor 
in  the  pit  and  in  the  galleries  in  Japanese  fash- 
ion. Frames  partitioned  off  the  seats  into 
squares,  in  each  of  which  two  persons  sat,  the 
arrangement  reminding  one  of  the  racks  placed 
on  the  table  on  board  ship  when  the  sea  is 
rough.  Here  and  there  a  puff  of  smoke  would 
rise  into  the  air,  it  being  the  custom  of  Jap- 
anese to  take  occasional  whiffs  of  tobacco  in  a 
public  gathering.  A  little  group  of  Christians, 
the  pastors  of  the  different  Churches,  Bible 
women,  and  others,  were  behind  the  curtains. 


102     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

and  some  of  them  were  serving  tea  to  those 
who  had  part  in  the  program  of  the  evening. 
Among  these  was  Mrs.  Yanagiwara,  advanced 
in  years,  feeble  in  body,  but  strong  in  the 
Christian  faith.  Then  there  was  her  daughter- 
in-law,  a  very  active  Christian,  whose  husband, 
Rev.  Namio  Yanagiwara,  was  the  presiding  of^ 
ficer  of  the  evening.  He  is  the  preacher  in 
charge  of  the  Methodist  Church  at  Matsuyama 
and  the  presiding  elder  of  the  Matsuyama  Dis- 
trict. In  opening  the  service  he  made  an  ear- 
nest and  powerful  appeal,  speaking  for  thir- 
ty minutes.  He  and  his  wife  talked  much 
to  me  about  their  children — for  they  have  a 
family  now,  the  oldest  of  which  has  completed 
the  high  school  course  at  Kwansei  Gakuin — and 
they  earnestly  sought  my  counsel  and  help, 
looking  to  the  sending  of  their  eldest  son  to 
Central  College,  Missouri,  where  he  might  re- 
ceive a  college  education  under  Christian  influ- 
ence. 

There  are  exultant  moments  in  human  expe- 
rience, times  of  elation  as  well  as  of  depression. 
This  occasion  at  Matsuyama  was  one  of  those 
times  when  the  sense  of  joy  and  power  is  pe- 
culiarly strong,  the  feeling  of  an  upward  spring 
of  the  spirit  within.     I  was  braced,  first  of  all, 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      103 

by  spending  the  afternoon  with  Brother  T.  W. 
B.  Demaree,  who  is  toiling  on  all  alone  at  his 
station,  while  his  family  is  in  Kentucky,  where 
the  children  are  going  to  school.  I  felt  that 
tonic  effect  which  one  experiences  in  the  pres- 
ence of  sacrifice.  Then,  though  the  rain  was 
pouring  down  and  there  was  some  anxiety  as  to 
the  attendance,  there  was  a  distinct  relief  and  a 
feeling  of  encouragement  when  it  was  found 
that  the  theater  building  was  well  filled,  there 
being  between  six  and  seven  hundred  people 
present.  But  greater  inspiration  came  from  a 
sense  of  the  unfolding  providence  during  the 
intervening  years.  There  is  a  song  of  ascent 
in  human  experience  like  that  of  the  return 
from  exile.  In  fact,  the  Psalms  marked  songs 
of  degrees;  or,  more  correctly,  "ascents"  (cxx.- 
cxxxiv.)  may  be  descriptive  of  progressions 
either  in  providence  or  in  human  experience. 
The  words  of  Psalm  cxxvi.  come  to  us  on  occa- 
sions like  this  at  Matsuyama  as  sweet  music,  as 
a  song  of  throbbing  gratitude  and  of  the  har- 
vest joy  experienced  in  all  pioneer  work  in  the 
Church  of  Christ. 

It  had  been  twenty-six  years  since  I  first  met 
the  one  who  presided  at  this  important  gather- 
ing in  Matsuyama,  where  all  the  Churches  were 


104     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

united  for  a  great  campaign.  While  a  mere 
youth  he  called  at  my  home  and  stood  by  the 
veranda  while  he  talked  to  me.  He  said  that  he 
desired  to  study  the  Bible  and  to  become  a 
Christian.  He  and  his  brother  were  soon  en- 
rolled as  probationers.  But  that  was  the  begin- 
ning of  trouble.  If  the  harvest  was  with  joy, 
the  sowing  was  with  tears.  Persecution  began. 
Their  father  was  an  official  in  the  prefectural 
offices  and  a  stern  Samurai  of  the  olden  type. 
It  was  his  duty,  before  the  country  was  opened, 
to  see  that  every  one  in  that  province  placed 
his  foot  upon  the  image  of  Christ  upon  the 
cross  and  repudiated  the  Christian  religion.  It 
was  in  this  way  that  the  census  was  taken.  He 
told  me  after  his  conversion  that  frequently  he 
had  taken  the  tiny  foot  of  a  babe,  brought  in  its 
mother's  arms,  and  placed  it  upon  the  fiimiye, 
or  "trodden  image  of  Jesus,"  while  the  parent 
took  the  oath  of  abjuration.  The  old  Samurai 
was  thrown  into  a  paroxysm  of  rage  when  his 
sons  became  Christians.  But  eventually  he 
called  on  me  and  frankly  acknowledged  that  a 
change  had  become  apparent  in  his  boys,  both 
in  character  and  conduct.  When  I  urged  him 
to  seek  for  the  good  that  had  come  into  the 
lives  of  his  sons,  he  replied  that  his  social  con- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      105 

nections,  his  advanced  years,  and  his  long  use 
of  intoxicating  drinks  precluded  him  from  en- 
tering the  Christian  life.  Yet  these  were  over- 
come, and  he  and  his  wife  followed  their  sons 
into  the  Church.  The  old  man  became  one  of 
our  most  stalwart  laymen.  He  died  a  trium- 
phant death,  and  his  body  now  rests  on  the  hill- 
side in  the  outskirts  of  Oita  in  the  little  plat 
of  ground  which  he  himself  by  his  own  exertions 
secured  from  the  government  as  a  Christian 
burial  place. 

When  going  upon  the  platform  before  an  au- 
dience the  greater  part  of  whom  are  people  who 
know  little  of  the  Christian  religion  and  to 
whom  one  must  speak  in  a  foreign  tongue,  the 
first  impulse  is  to  breathe  a  silent  prayer  for 
gracious  assistance  in  the  use  of  language  as 
well  as  in  the  presentation  of  Christian  truth. 
But  at  Matsuyama,  when  I  went  before  the  peo- 
ple, the  presence  of  Namio  Yanagiwara  was 
reassuring.  It  was  the  pledge  to  me  of  the 
nearness  of  One  whose  silent  and  invisible  work 
had  brought  to  maturity  the  early  beginnings 
in  Oita  and  had  given  a  reality  to  the  prayers 
and  hopes  of  our  first  days  of  service  in  Japan. 
A  whole  family,  with  its  connections,  had  been 
lifted  out  of  darkness  and  had  become  a  bless- 


106      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

ing  to  many  others  in  an  ever-widening  exten- 
sion of  the  gospel  by  which  their  own  lives  were 
redeemed.  No  wonder  that  moments  in  Matsu- 
yama  were  precious.  One  cannot  but  acquire 
new  strength  for  the  coming  task  when  he  sees 
the  promise  fulfilled:  "He  that  goeth  forth  and 
weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubtless 
come  again  with  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves 
with  him." 

IV,  An  Oregon  Ward  in  a  Japanese  Hospital, 

Our  small  steamer  reached  Kure  about  noon 
the  following  day.  In  among  the  hills  clad  in 
pine  forests  and  on  the  shore  of  a  picturesque 
bay  is  located  the  great  naval  yard  of  Japan, 
with  its  docks,  arsenals,  and  hospitals.  On  my 
first  trip  across  the  Inland  Sea,  twenty-six  years 
ago,  Kure  was  an  unimportant  village.  Now 
there  is  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty thousand  souls.  The  growth  is  due  largely 
to  connection  with  the  navy. 

Kindly  hospitality  was  extended  to  us  by 
Rev.  and  Mrs.  Harvey  S.  Brokaw,  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Mission.  There  was  one  child  at 
home,  little  Frances,  twelve  years  of  age.  She 
was  going  to  school  to  her  father  and  mother, 
reciting  her  lessons  first  to  one  and  then  to  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      107 

other.  Mr.  Brokaw  was  making  good  use  of  a 
motor  car  in  evangelizing  the  adjacent  dis- 
tricts. It  was  amazing  how  many  villages  he 
reached  and  the  number  of  tracts  he  distribu- 
ted on  a  single  tour. 

Our  first  appointment  was  at  a  local  hospital. 
Arrangements  had  been  made  for  us,  myself  and 
Mr.  Makino,  to  address  the  staff,  consisting  of 
about  sixty  doctors  and  nurses.  We  were  ac- 
companied by  Miss  Gillespie,  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society,  who  seemed  to  be  held  in 
high  honor  at  the  hospital,  and  by  Mr.  Kosaka, 
who  is  in  charge  of  the  Methodist  Church  at 
Kure.  The  visit  was  most  satisfactory.  Re- 
spectful attention  was  given  to  our  addresses. 
Courtesies  were  shown  us  by  the  head  of  the 
hospital,  and  we  were  surprised  to  find  among 
the  wards  one  named  for  our  battleship  Oregon. 
It  was  provided  with  eight  beds.  The  United 
States  government  had  sent  the  Oregon  on  one 
occasion  to  Kure  for  repairs.  The  men  on  the 
Oregon,  greatly  to  their  credit,  on  taking  their 
departure  contributed  funds  for  the  equipment 
of  this  ward.  The  superintendent,  physicians, 
and  nurses  connected  with  the  hospital  seemed 
to  be  pleased  when  I  expressed  the  wish  and 
hope  that  such  friendly  intercourse  would  ever- 


108     Campaigning  for  Chi'ist  in  Japan. 

more  be  maintained  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States. 

At  night  I  preached  at  the  Baptist  chapel, 
where  about  twenty  were  present.  The  forces 
had  been  massed  that  evening  at  the  Methodist 
preaching  place,  v/here  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  were  in  attendance.  One  of  the  Jap- 
anese speakers  at  the  latter  place  was  inter- 
rupted while  leading  in  prayer  by  a  one-time 
follower  of  Miyazaki,  the  prophet.  "Don't  be 
a  hypocrite  while  praying,"  the  man  shouted 
from  the  audience ;  "keep  silent."  The  intruder 
had  been  a  follower  of  Miyazaki,  in  Tokyo,  who 
claims  he  is  a  prophet  and  is  the  incarnation  of 
Christ  and  Buddha  and  Confucius.  Upon  hear- 
ing that  Miyazaki  was  not  correct  in  his  pri- 
vate life,  the  Kure  man  had  abandoned  his 
cause  and  was  now  in  a  Christian  meeting.  In 
spite  of  the  interruption,  the  service  went  on 
and  with  good  results. 

At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  pastors 
and  workers  met  together  at  the  Baptist  head- 
quarters for  a  shuyohwai^  and  at  night  the 
preaching  services  were  held  at  the  Episcopal 
church.  Mr.  Kuzoku,  a  Presbyterian  evangel- 
ist, was  my  fellow  laborer  in  this  service.  His 
sermon  was  remarkable  for  its  genuine  evangel- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      109 

istic  note.  The  speaker  had  thoroughly  at- 
tained in  heart  and  head  the  truth  of  the  gos- 
pel. The  net  was  cast  bj  the  pastor,  and  many 
indicated  their  desire  to  become  enrolled  as  pro- 
bationers. Though  this  service  was  held  in  an 
Episcopalian  church,  the  attitude  of  Episco- 
palians throughout  the  country  toward  united 
undertakings  among  Protestant  bodies  is  not 
uniform.  Representatives  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  enter  into  cooperation,  as  a 
rule,  while  the  missionaries  of  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  hold  aloof. 
American  Episcopalians  are  divided  on  the 
question.  As  a  rule,  however,  missionary  rela- 
tions are  friendly.  Conferences  are  held  in 
which  all  participate,  even  those  who  will  not 
enter  into  cooperation. 

In  the  afternoon  the  English  ladies  served  tea 
to  a  few  of  us  at  their  cottage  on  the  hill. 
Near  by  we  found  an  old  student,  now  well-to- 
do,  who  was  conducting  a  store.  He  had  called 
upon  us  at  the  Brokaw  residence  soon  after  we 
arrived  and  presented  us  with  a  wooden  deer, 
carved  at  Miyajima,  not  far  away.  Another 
former  student  was  assisting  Mr.  Brokaw  as 
secretary  and  evangelist.  On  the  table  at  Mr. 
Brokaw's,  as  on  the  table  in  missionary  homes 


110      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

throughout  the  country,  we  found  the  family 
supplied  with  Utsunomiya  butter.  The  story 
is  an  interesting  one  and  is  known  throughout 
Japan.  A  Japanese  young  man  at  the  point  of 
starvation  in  Iowa  begged  for  something  to  eat 
at  the  house  of  a  farmer.  He  found  in  the  wife 
a  friend.  She  believed  his  story  and  gave  him 
a  five-dollar  bill.  Truly  characteristic  of  a 
Japanese  young  man,  he  at  once  turned  his 
course  to  an  agricultural  college  in  Iowa,  feel- 
ing that  he  had  sufficient  means  with  which  to 
start  in  getting  an  education.  He  succeeded 
in  finishing  his  course  and  returned  to  the 
Island  of  Hokkaido,  a  sparsely  populated 
island,  where  Japanese  experiment  farming  is 
carried  on.  Here  he  acquired  wealth  and  is 
now  conducting  a  great  farm.  He  is  a  Chris- 
tian man;  and  in  grateful  remembrance,  it  is 
said,  he  sends  a  box  of  farm  products  every 
year  to  the  generous-hearted  friends  who  helped 
him  at  the  time  of  his  extremity  in  Iowa. 

F.  A  Converted  Publican  in  the  Pastorate, 

At  Fukuyama  I  met  Dr.  Sasao,  Dean  of  the 
German  Reformed  School  at  Sendai.  The 
Christians  had  engaged  rooms  in  a  small  but 
elegant   Japanese  hotel.      From   our  room  we 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      111 

looked  down  upon  a  courtyard,  decorated  with 
rockeries  and  pine  trees  and  surrounded  by  the 
hotel  buildings.  A  motto  hung  on  the  wall  in 
our  room,  skillfully  written,  declared  that  the 
"Spring  wind  gives  peace."  In  different  parts 
of  the  city  industries  had  been  established. 
Smoke  was  rising  into  the  sky  from  the  cotton- 
spinning  factories.  The  feudal  castle  was  a  con- 
spicuous landmark  which  could  be  seen  for  miles 
from  any  direction. 

The  meetings  had  been  held  one  night  in  the 
Episcopal  church  and  the  next  night  in  the 
Presbyterian  church.  The  night  we  were  there 
the  building  rented  by  the  Methodists  was  the 
place  of  meeting.  Mr.  Matsushita,  Methodist 
preacher  in  charge,  was  a  publican  when  con- 
verted. Now  he  is  fifty-seven  years  of  age,  with 
white,  flowing  beard  upon  his  face,  and  a  man 
of  lovable  character  and.  usefulness  in  the  min- 
istry. He  has  one  son  In  the  ministry,  and  his 
family  are  members  of  the  Church. 

At  the  night  service  there  were  judges,  law- 
yers, school-teachers,  officials,  and  business  men 
in  the  audience.  Among  them,  sitting  near  the 
front,  was  a  kangahusha,  or  teacher  of  Chinese, 
now  eighty-four  years  of  age  and  celebrated  In 
that  part  of  the  country.     He  listened  with  In- 


112      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

terest  to  the  sermons.  He  was  taking  Bible 
lessons  before  the  meetings  began.  He  admired 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  but  found  difficulty 
in  accepting  the  miracles.  As  a  Confucianist, 
his  religion  was  similar  to  the  deism  of  Jeffer- 
son and  Franklin — a  religion  chiefly  ethical  in 
character,  without  the  touch  of  fervid  emotions. 
A  choir  of  girls  sang  beautifully  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  service,  and  the  congregational  sing- 
ing was  good. 

The  next  morning  Brother  Matsushita,  after 
a  union  prayer  meeting,  conducted  me  through 
the  old  feudal  castle.  We  followed  the  winding 
passage  from  floor  to  floor,  until  we  reached  the 
donjon,  from  which  could  be  seen  the  magnifi- 
cent landscape,  a  stretch  of  fields,  beyond  which 
there  was  a  range  of  hills  on  one  side  and  a 
winding  seacoast  on  the  other.  There  was  lit- 
tle harmony  between  the  military  castle  and  the 
surrounding  landscape.  The  hills  were  gently 
rolling  and  foliage-clad  and  were  not  frowning 
ramparts  of  rugged  stones,  such  as  a  military 
fortress  would  suggest. 

In  certain  rooms  of  the  castle  there  were 
stored  relics  of  the  past.  There  were  pictures 
dim  with  age  and  armor  rusty  from  long  dis- 
use.    Calligraphy  had  left  records  of  Confucian 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      113 

sentiment,  penned  on  scrolls  and  panels  by  the 
scholars  of  the  past.  In  these  the  pleasurable 
sensations  derived  from  reading,  from  nature, 
and  from  social  intercourse  were  praised  in  ele- 
gant or  fehcitous  phrases.  Confucianism  failed 
to  recognize  the  tragedy  of  life.  Even  Bud- 
dhism taught  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth 
and  travaileth  together  in  pain  until  now, 
though  this  religion  failed  to  wait  with  hopeful 
outlook  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God. 

The  Japanese  nationalist  never  loses  an  op- 
portunity to  remind  us  that  in  the  past  history 
of  Europe  there  has  been  endless  strife  and  con- 
troversy, while  at  the  same  time  he  boasts  of 
unity  and  harmony  characteristic  of  the  bygone 
centuries  of  Japanese  history.  But  these  feudal 
castles  dotting  the  Japanese  landscape  tell  a 
different  story.  They  are  not  fortresses  raised 
in  defense  against  the  attack  of  foreign  foes; 
they  bear  witness  to  internal  struggles,  of  which 
there  have  been  as  many  in  Japan  as  in  any 
other  country.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  hand 
of  man  has  been  raised  against  his  brother. 
Nowhere  has  militarism  been  cultivated  as  an 
ideal  with  greater  seriousness  than  in  Japan. 
The  clans  have  dominated  the  countiy  for  a 
8 


114      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

thousand  years  and  are  still  dominant.  Next 
to  Germany  and  Russia,  Japan  devotes  more  of 
her  national  energy  to  military  and  naval  pro- 
grams than  any  other  modern  nation;  more  in 
proportion — that  is  to  say,  to  her  national  re- 
sources, her  national  strength.  The  Bushido 
ideal  is  not  that  of  Bernhardi,  though  the  one 
may  easily  pass  into  the  other.  In  army  organi- 
zation and  imperialism  Japan  is  not  unlike  Ger- 
many at  the  present  time,  and  in  certain  fields 
the  two  empires  are  rivals.  But  Bushido  was 
not  a  highly  thought-out  concept  of  the  State. 
It  was  a  form  of  life  under  feudalism  cultivat- 
ing ideals  of  personal  honor,  valor,  and  self- 
control  similar  to  those  once  prevalent  in  Eu- 
rope and  pictured  to  us  in  the  novels  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott.  Though  fighting  efficiency  has 
been  developed  to  a  high  degree  in  modern  Ja- 
pan, other  lines  of  national  efficiency  have  been 
heightened.  The  upbuilding  forces,  however, 
have  been  secular.  In  order  to  give  supremacy 
to  spiritual  forces  an  immense  task  remains  to 
be  performed,  the  greatness  and  vital  impor- 
tance of  which  is  felt  increasingly  by  the 
Church.  It  requires  more  than  the  awakening 
of  the  intellectual  life  to  bring  to  a  realization 
the  reign  of  the  Spirit  in  national  affairs.     The 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      115 

agencies  which  evoke  and  sustain  faith  must  be 
relied  upon.  The  development  of  industrial- 
ism, international  trade,  and  colonial  expansion 
will  increase  not  only  in  Japan,  but  in  other 
vigorous  nations.  It  is  taking  a  clutch  on  time 
by  the  forelock  to  make  secure  now  the  domi- 
nant influence  of  spiritual  ideals. 

VI.  Preaching  in  a  Railway  Station, 

Leaving  Fukuyama,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Sa- 
sao,  we  journeyed  westward  on  the  trunk  line 
of  railway  that  runs  from  Tokyo  to  Shimono- 
seki.  As  we  came  to  Tokuyama  a  whirl  of  the 
train  around  a  curve  brought  into  view  a  scene 
that  the  imagination  itself  could  not  surpass  in 
delicacy  and  beauty.  We  had  been  following 
the  coast  line,  and  now,  as  we  looked  out  upon 
the  sea,  there  was  an  evening  stillness  like  that 
of  a  picture.  Even  the  sails  seemed  fixed  as 
upon  a  canvas.  The  gold  in  the  sky,  visible  be- 
tween dark  clouds,  was  reflected  upon  the  sur- 
face of  water.  Deep  indigo  islands  rose  out 
of  the  sea,  over  the  surface  of  which  there 
spread  a  sheen  of  gold.  The  prospect  put  one 
under  a  spell  as  under  an  enchantment.  The 
grays  had  been  changed  to  tints  of  gold  and 
purple   and   crimson,    as    if   the    Master,   who 


116      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

turned  water  into  wine,  had  spoken.  The  radi- 
ance of  the  daylight  hours  was  gone,  and  on 
the  face  of  sky  and  sea  and  land  there  was  a 
filmy  haze,  rendering  all  the  more  agreeable  and 
entrancing  the  superb  and  delicate  exhibition  of 
nature's  hidden  beauty. 

Mr.  Booth,  a  young  man  employed  to  teach 
English  in  a  government  school,  gave  us  shelter 
under  his  roof.  He  is  but  one  of  a  considerable 
number  of  young  men  from  American  colleges 
scattered  throughout  Japan  and  occupying  po- 
sitions as  teachers  of  English  in  the  Japanese 
government  schools.  On  the  walls  of  his  study 
the  first  thing  to  attract  notice  was  Mr.  Booth's 
college  pennant,  on  which  "Hamilton"  (the 
name  of  his  college)  was  imprinted  in  large  let- 
ters. After  supper  about  twenty-five  students 
were  invited  to  his  study  by  Mr.  Booth  before 
the  evening  meeting.  I  sought  earnestly  to  im- 
press upon  the  minds  of  these  high-school  stu- 
dents the  importance  of  religion. 

At  night  arrangements  had  been  made  for  two 
services — one  at  the  Methodist  chapel,  whei'e  I 
was  to  speak,  and  the  other  at  the  Presbyterian 
chapel,  where  Dr.  Sasao  was  to  speak.  Both 
places  were  crowded  to  the  utmost  capacity. 
As  a  rule,  it  is  not  wise  for  missionaries  to  at- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      117 

tack  social  customs  with  a  view  to  their  reform. 
It  is  better  for  the  native  speakers  to  discuss 
matters  looking  to  the  improvement  of  national 
customs  and  social  institutions.  It  seemed  so 
relevant  at  one  point  in  my  address  that  I  could 
not  refrain  from  speaking  of  the  cruel  tyranny 
of  the  Japanese  hotel  proprietors.  At  Fuku- 
yama  I  heard  Dr.  Sasao  conversing  with  the 
help  employed  to  wait  upon  us  at  the  hotel. 
He  was  trying  to  find  out  what  were  their  hours. 
He  said  that  he  had  inquired  at  other  places 
and  had  learned  that  the  custom  was  for  the 
servants  to  retire  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  to  arise  at  five  o'clock  and  begin  their  work 
at  daybreak.  The  next  morning  the  preacher 
in  charge  of  the  chapel  at  which  I  had  spoken 
received  letters  from  a  number  of  teachers  in 
one  of  the  government  schools  expressing  their 
profound  appreciation  of  the  truths  they  had 
heard  set  forth.  I  was  happy  that  no  offense 
had  been  given  and  happier  still  that  the  truth 
of  Christ  had  been  impressed  upon  the  minds  of 
intelligent  men  in  the  audience. 

Before  leaving  for  our  next  appointment,  Dr. 
Sasao  went  to  speak  in  one  of  the  schools,  while 
I  was  invited  to  address  the  railway  employees 
at  the  station.     Seats  were  brought  in,  and  I 


118      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

was  permitted  to  speak  more  than  an  hour  to 
about  thirty  men  connected  with  the  railway  at 
that  place.  As  a  class  the  railway  men  of  Ja- 
pan are  open-minded,  and  there  is  a  fine  oppor- 
tunity among  them  for  presenting  the  gospel  of 
Christ :  an  opportunity  not  only  among  railway 
men,  but  opportunities  everywhere.  Gates 
stand  open  on  every  hand.  This  campaign  it- 
self is  creating  openings  which  the  force  at  hand 
is  not  prepared  to  enter.  Rev.  H.  P.  Jones,  of 
our  Methodist  Mission,  and  Rev.  C.  L.  White- 
ner,  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission,  are  here  on 
this  coast  and  with  us  in  these  meetings.  But 
they  find  themselves  too  limited  in  resources  to 
follow  with  an  eifort  all  along  the  coast  suffi- 
cient to  conserve  the  results  of  these  meetings. 
One  means  of  good  would  be  in  the  erection  of 
church  buildings.  Thirty  years  ago  J.  W. 
Lambuth  visited  towns  on  this  coast;  yet  we 
still  find  ourselves  without  houses  of  worship  at 
many  places.  The  time  is  at  hand  for  a  re- 
newal of  effort  and  outlay  (all  the  missions  are 
convinced)  for  the  evangelization  of  Japan, 
eighty  per  cent  of  the  population  of  which  has 
not  yet  been  reached  by  the  Christian  propa- 
ganda. Another  deficiency  that  should  be  over- 
come is  in  providing  the  missionaries  on   the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      119 

field  with  competent  assistant  evangelists.  It 
requires  more  now,  since  salaries  have  become 
higher,  to  command  the  services  of  useful  men. 

VIL  *'No  Pleasure  in  Ambiguity.''* 

At  Mitajiri  Madam  Hirooka  joined  us  for 
the  services  at  that  place.  At  the  hotel  the 
Christians  were  waiting  for  her  arrival,  in  the 
meantime  showing  what  courtesies  thej  could  to 
Dr.  Sasao  and  myself.  The  public  school  build- 
ing had  been  secured  in  the  face  of  much  preju- 
dice for  our  afternoon  meeting.  Madam  Hi- 
rooka presently  arrived  and  was  given  the  seat 
of  honor  in  the  large  room  in  the  hotel  reserved 
for  us — that  is,  the  seat  most  distant  from  the 
door.  She  inquired  at  once  as  to  the  meetings. 
When  informed  that  the  public  school  building 
had  been  tendered  for  use  in  the  afternoon  meet- 
ing, she  at  once  asked  if  she  would  be  free  to 
speak  without  reserve  concerning  Christ.  The 
Christians. told  her  that,  owing  to  prejudice  and 
the  delicacy  of  the  situation,  it  might  be  well 
to  speak  with  some  reserve.  She  bluntly  re- 
marked that  they  were  only  half  enlightened  in 
that  community  and  that  she  would  decline  to 
speak.  She  turned  to  me  and  made  the  remark 
that  "there  is  no  pleasure  in  ambiguity." 


120     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

The  Christians  finally  prevailed  upon  her  to 
make  an  address,  especially  as  they  had  gone  to 
much  trouble  to  induce  the  women  of  the  com- 
munity to  attend  the  meeting.  Dinner  was 
served  in  a  hotel.  I  could  not  make  out  all  the 
things  put  before  us.  In  preparing  a  meal  the 
Japanese  can  outdo  "Heinz's  57  varieties." 
After  dinner  five  or  six  jinrikishas  in  single  file 
dashed  through  the  streets,  carrying  us  toward 
the  public  school  buildings,  some  distance  away, 
toward  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  On  the  hills 
not  far  away  we  could  see  the  famous  temple 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Sugiwara  Michi- 
zane.  In  the  autumn  festival  thousands  of  peo- 
ple gather  here,  some  say  a  million,  and  move 
in  a  great  procession  from  the  temple  to  the  sea. 
They  are  dressed  in  white  garb,  and  before  them 
two  arks  are  carried,  and  a  third  is  drawn  by 
oxen.  These  are  followed  by  a  priest  riding  a 
sacred  horse  and  attended  by  assistants. 

About  three  hundred  had  assembled  in  the 
auditorium  of  the  public  school.  Facing  the 
platform  and  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  build- 
ing were  two  large  Chinese  characters,  meaning 
"Loyalty  and  Filial  Piety."  These  two  Confu- 
cian terms  sum  up  the  whole  duty  of  man  ac- 
cording to  the  prevalent  teaching  of  those  who 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,     121 

are  connected  with  the  national  system  of 
schools.  Everything  went  off  well,  and  it  was 
felt  that  good  impressions  were  made  in  behalf 
of  Christianity. 

After  returning  to  the  hotel  Madam  Hirooka 
said  to  me:  "It  is  so  strange  to  me  that  I  do 
not  become  fatigued  in  doing  the  Lord's  work." 
It  was  strange  indeed;  for  she  had  reached  the 
advanced  age  of  sixty-five  years  and  had  been 
in  a  strenuous  campaign,  speaking  three  and 
four  times  a  day  for  about  ten  days.  That 
night  the  rain  came  down  in  torrents.  Still 
there  was  a  good  attendance  at  the  place  rented 
for  the  meeting.  Madam  Hirooka  spoke  first 
and  then  took  the  train  for  Osaka.  It  was  Sat- 
urday night,  and  she  desired  to  reach  Osaka, 
her  home,  by  Sunday  morning  in  order  to  be 
present  at  the  baptism  and  reception  into  the 
Church  of  a  personal  friend  whom  she  had  led 
to  Christ. 

According  to  the  plan  of  arrangement,  I  was 
to  remain  over  at  Mitajiri  and  preach  Sunday 
morning,  which  I  did;  while  Dr.  Sasao  was  to 
proceed  to  Yamaguchi,  where  I  was  to  join  him 
for  an  afternoon  students'  rally  in  the  public 
theater  and  for  a  preaching  service  at  night. 
It  was  not  surprising  that  Dr.  Sasao  was  wait- 


122     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

ing  with  deep  interest  to  know  what  the  out- 
come might  be  of  the  campaign  at  Yamaguchi. 
As  we  sat  in  the  hotel  he  related  to  me  the 
story  of  his  life.  Shimonoseki,  not  far  from 
Mitajiri,  was  his  native  city.  His  father  was 
wealthy,  but  lost  his  money  in  speculation  and 
moved  away  to  the  city  of  Osaka.  At  this  place 
Dr.  Sasao  was  converted  to  Christianity  under 
the  influence  of  two  missionaries — Dr.  Tyng,  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Mission,  and  Dr.  Alex- 
ander, of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission, 
Dr.  Sasao,  while  a  young  man,  had  been  sent  to 
the  government  college  at  Yamaguchi.  He  was 
the  only  Christian  in  the  school  at  that  time 
and  suffered  much  annoyance  because  of  his 
faith.  The  students  nicknamed  him  "Yaso," 
or  *'Jesus,"  and  would  often  throw  him  down 
and  make  a  cross  upon  his  back  with  chalk. 
No  wonder  that  he  was  eager  to  know  what  the 
attitude  of  mind  would  prove  to  be  the  following 
day  at  Yamaguchi  among  the  students  in  the 
numerous  schools  at  that  place. 

After  leaving  Yamaguchi,  Dr.  Sasao  attended 
the  Meiji  Gakuin  at  a  Presbyterian  college  at 
Tokyo.  Later  he  attended  the  Auburn  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
and  Columbia  University,  in  the  United  States. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      123 

In  recounting  his  religious  experience  he  said 
that  he  had  read  at  one  time  Pileiderer's  "Phi- 
losophy of  Religion"  and  accepted  it  as  final. 
As  a  result  he  lost  "his  interest  in  preaching." 
He  said  that  Mr.  Kanamori  also  lost  his  faith 
through  reading  this  book.  Dr.  Sasao  crossed 
over  to  Germany  in  order  to  hear  Plleiderer 
lecture  in  Berlin  University ;  but  he  was  greatly 
disappointed.  Though  he  found  Professor 
Pfleiderer  to  be  kind,  gentlemanly,  and  scholar- 
ly, he  did  not  awaken  in  him  an  enthusiasm  for 
building  up  the  kingdom  of  God  in  Japan.  He 
left  Berlin  and  went  to  Halle.  There  his  faith 
was  restored  under  Koehler,  a  disciple  of  Tho- 
luck. 

VIII.  Enthusiasm  for  Christ  among  Students. 

Yamaguchi  is  the  seat  of  the  prefecture  of 
that  name  and  is  the  home  of  one  of  the  ruling 
clans  of  Japan,  the  other  ruling  clan  having  its 
home  on  the  island  of  Kyushiu,  in  Satsuma. 
Prince  Ito,  who  wrote  the  Constitution,  came 
from  this  locality.  Yam.aguchi  is  now  a  city  of 
schools.  As  one  part  of  the  campaign  a  rally 
for  students  had  been  advertised  to  be  held  in 
one  of  the  public  theaters  at  two  o'clock  Sunday 
afternoon.     The  meetings  for  students  had  been 


124      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

disappointing  in  some  parts  of  the  country ;  but 
at  Yamaguchi  the  auditorium  was  filled.  Dr. 
Sasao  in  his  address  spoke  with  peculiar  inspira- 
tion and  power.  The  memories  of  the  past  and 
the  triumphs  of  the  present  seemed  to  fill  his 
soul  with  joy  and  rapture.  The  impression  he 
made  upon  that  audience  of  students  cannot  be 
effaced  in  years  to  come.  I  felt  out  of  place 
occupying  time  on  the  platform  when  the  op- 
portunity was  so  unique  for  him,  and  especially 
as  one  of  the  professors  from  the  Kyushiu  Uni- 
versity, a  Japanese  Christian,  was  also  to  speak. 
I  took  sufficient  time,  however,  to  lay  upon  the 
consciences  of  those  Japanese  young  men  the 
claim  of  the  hour  for  the  cause  of  religion  In 
Japan.  I  told  them  plainly  that  if  the  young 
men  had  responded  to  the  call  of  God  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  for  the  dissemination  of  Chris- 
tian truth  there  would  have  been  no  necessity 
for  the  strenuous  labors  such  as  were  engaged 
in  by  Madam  Hirooka,  Mr.  Ebara,  Mr.  Morl- 
mura,  and  others  of  advanced  age. 

Sunday  evening  I  preached  In  the  Methodist 
church,  followed  by  Dr.  Sasao.  Mr.  Kondo 
had  an  automobile  waiting  for  me,  so  that  I 
could  connect  with  the  fast  train  at  Mitajirl  for 
Tokyo.     The  distance  to  be  covered  was  twelve 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      125 

miles,  though  the  road  was  good.  The  motor 
car  screamed  as  it  sped  along  the  highway, 
through  villages  and  fields.  The  shrill  honk, 
sounding  at  frequent  intervals  to  warn  footmen 
and  jinrikishas,  echoed  through  the  hills  and  was 
startling  enough  to  disturb  in  their  imagined 
presence  the  gods  dwelling  in  shrines  by  the 
wayside.  What  innovations  science  and  inven- 
tion are  making  in  regions  of  the  earth  long  the 
haunts  of  superstition,  terror,  and  myth! 

All  night  long  the  rocking  of  the  train,  the 
noise  of  the  buffers,  the -voices  of  the  venders  at 
stations  selling  drinks,  fruits,  newspapers,  and 
tobacco  mingled  with  the  dreams  of  a  half- 
wakeful  sleep.  The  strenuous  campaign  of  the 
past  ten  days  had  been  brought  to  a  close. 
During  its  intense  hours  the  gospel  had  been 
presented,  and  living  issues  had  been  discussed. 
Amid  the  activities  of  the  Churches  at  different 
places  one  seemed  to  realize  in  his  own  soul 
something  of  the  griefs  and  sorrpws,  the  de- 
lusions and  thralldoms,  the  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions of  the  multitudes  into  whose  faces  he  had 
looked  and  to  whom  he  had  addressed  appeals 
to  heart  and  mind  and  will  with  a  view  to  awak- 
ening men  to  the  possibilities  of  a  higher  and 
more  triumphant  life.    And  strange  it  all  seems 


126      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

that  one  should  be  speaking  in  a  foreign  tongue 
to  communities  remote  from  his  own,  seeking 
to  change  their  course  of  life  and  action!  If 
this  be  an  apparent  intrusion,  the  answer  is 
that  it  is  one  of  the  incongruities  of  which  life 
is  full.  There  is  no  greater  consensus  of  opin- 
ion on  any  one  point  than  that  the  facts  about 
human  life  are  exactly  what  they  ought  not  to 
be.  Why  do  men  everywhere  cling  to  shadows 
when  they  should  know  truth  as  open-faced  as 
the  day?  Why  is  the  truth  so  falsified  by  pas- 
sion and  prejudice?  Why  do  the  great  ma- 
jority of  people  remain  in  a  state  of  mental 
childhood,  while  the  means  are  close  at  hand 
for  their  intellectual  development?  Why  is  it 
that,  possessing  eyes  to  see,  the  faces  of  men 
are  turned  away  from  the  light?  Answer  these 
questions,  and  you  solve  the  paradoxes  of  life  as 
it  is  here  upon  earth,  and  at  the  same  time  you 
bring  to  light  the  reasons  justifying  the  foreign 
missionary  enterprise. 

Yokohama. 
*' Apart  from  Christ,  No  True  Individual.** 
At  the  shuyolcwai  held  at  Yokohama  I  was 
much  impressed  with  Dr.  Ebina's  remarks  con- 
cerning the  individual.     His  address  followed 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      127 

mine.  Neither  of  us  had  knowledge  beforehand 
as  to  what  the  theme  discussed  would  be  by  ei- 
ther of  us.  I  spoke  on  "The  Social  Conscious- 
ness." I  called  attention  to  the  great  reform 
brought  about  in  our  day  as  the  result  of  a 
deepening  of  the  social  obligation.  I  pointed 
out  to  the  workers  and  pastors  that  the  Church 
was  the  only  effective  agency  by  which  the  so- 
cial sense  could  be  developed. 

When  Dr.  Ebina  came  on  the  platform,  he 
had  a  very  different  message  on  his  mind.  He 
had  come  to  discuss  the  development  of  the  in- 
dividual, so  long  neglected  in  Oriental  society. 
His  speech  was  characteristic  of  the  general 
trend  in  Japan.  I  had  spoken  rather  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  West.  The  currents  at  the 
present  time  in  the  East  and  in  the  West  are 
moving  in  opposite  directions.  In  Japan  they 
are  seeking  to  discover  the  individual ;  in  West- 
ern countries  the  aim  in  view  is  to  place  a  new 
accent  on  the  social  life  and  obligation. 

Dr.  Ebina  discussed  the  individual  from  the 
point  of  view  of  traditional  social  institutions 
in  Japan.  The  individual  had  not  been  recog- 
nized except  as  a  member  of  the  family  or  State. 
Chu-ko,  or  "loyalty  and  filial  piety,"  summed 
up  the  whole  duty  of  man. 


128      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

A  recent  illustration  of  these  virtues  is  the 
death  of  General  Nogi,  who,  with  his  wife,  took 
his  life  at  the  hour  when  the  funeral  ceremonies 
of  the  late  emperor  were  being  conducted. 
This  is  known  as  junsJd,  or  "following  in 
death."  The  suicide  was  an  act  of  loyalty. 
The  faithful  general  chose  to  follow  his  supe- 
rior into  the  other  world.  If  his  death  was 
typical  of  the  old  order,  the  adverse  public 
opinion,  though  expressed  with  bated  breath, 
was  an  indication  of  new  ideas  at  work  in  the 
minds  of  the  Japanese. 

That  new  ideas  are  at  work  is  beyond  ques- 
tion. We  see  a  protest  against  corporate  guilt, 
in  the  ancient  prophets  of  Israel,  an  emphasis 
placed  upon  personal  responsibility.  The  time 
would  come,  Jeremiah  declared,  "when  they 
should  say  no  more.  The  fathers  have  eaten 
sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on 
edge."  There  would  be  a  sense  of  personal 
condemnation:  "Every  man  that  eateth  sour 
grapes,  his  teeth  shall  be  set  on  edge."  Man 
is  dealt  with  by  Jeremiah  from  the  standpoint 
of  his  ethical  relations.  Individualism  in  Japan, 
recently  awakened,  presents  many  aspects.  The 
movement  has  similarities  to  the  Renaissance 
in  Europe,  and  it  has  points  of  agreement  with 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      129 

the  Reformation.  It  marks  the  revolt  of  the 
individual  against  social  tradition  and  author- 
ity. A  disharmony  is  felt  between  the  individ- 
ual consciousness  and  ideas,  customs,  and  insti- 
tutions handed  down  from  the  past,  but  now 
outworn  and  superseded  by  broader  and  high- 
er and  more  rational  views  of  men  and  society. 
It  shows  itself  in  the  spirit  of  revolt,  in  the 
disposition  to  question  and  to  criticize,  in  the 
greater  degree  of  alertness  and  sensitiveness 
shown  by  individuals  in  matters  concerning 
their  rights  and  interests. 

Dr.  Ebina,  in  his  Christian  address,  pene- 
trated to  the  deeper  aspects  of  the  question. 
His  discussion  was  more  from  the  ethical  and 
religious  point  of  view,  and  yet  cogent  in  the 
clearness  of  his  reasoning  as  regards  the  pri- 
mary importance  of  the  moral  side  of  the 
question,  even  in  the  solution  of  the  individ- 
ualism which  the  present  generation  is  clamor- 
ing to  see  realized.  It  was  not  with  the 
speaker  merely  a  matter  of  liberty  in  the  ex- 
pression of  opinion  or  emancipation  from  out- 
worn customs.  Dr.  Ebina  declared  that  there 
could  be  no  personal  independence  having  real- 
ity and  power  apart  from  oneness  with  Christ. 
It  was  perfectly  evident  to  any  one  following 
9 


130      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

his  discourse  that  by  union  with  Christ  he  had 
in  mind  more  than  outward  obedience  to  Christ, 
more  than  inward  harmony  of  will  or  intimacy 
of  fellowship  with  him,  more  than  an  assimila- 
tion of  his  spirit.  The  union  he  spoke  of  was 
organic,  mystical,  and  transcendent.  It  was 
such  a  union  as  Paul  described  when  he  said: 
"I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me." 
The  discussion  was  worthy  of  the  subject  and 
was  one  that  touched  things  fundamental. 

No  individual  answering  in  reality  to  the 
highest  ideals  can  be  wrought  out  through  social 
conflict  and  reaction.  That  social  situations, 
especially  in  modern  society,  involve  a  continu- 
ous stress  and  strain  which  have  the  effect  of 
sharpening  the  individual  consciousness  is  a 
fact  no  one  need  call  in  question.  That  society 
produces  selfhood  was  seen  by  Buddhism,  and 
on  that  account  society  was  set  aside  for  the 
monastery.  Yet  the  self  built  up  through  so- 
cial action  and  reaction  is  never  able  to  rise 
superior  to  society.  This  is  exemplified  in  the 
history  of  Confucianism.  There  is  a  self  not 
social,  a  human  relation  more  fundamental 
than  the  relation  to  society.  The  Vine  of 
which  we  are  the  branches  is  not  society.  Hu- 
man nature,  through  identification  with  the  di- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      131 

vine  in  the  incarnation,  finds  the  way  of  escape 
from  all  forms  of  slavery.  While  in  society 
and  social  in  nature,  yet  the  individual  man  be- 
comes greater  than  society,  strengthened  by  this 
more  fundamental  union.  The  kind  of  individ- 
ual produced  by  society  has  never  been  charac- 
terized by  virility  or  independence.  "If  a  man 
abide  not  in  me,  he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch, 
and  is  withered." 

It  was  the  "withered"  lives  produced  by  Con- 
fucian society,  the  supreme  virtues  of  which 
were  loyalty  and  filial  piety,  against  which  Dr. 
Ebina  directed  his  attack.  He  was  prompted 
by  a  sense  of  need  widely  felt  in  Japan,  the 
need  of  other  virtues  than  these  two  just  men- 
tioned— the  need,  for  example,  of  such  virtues 
as  the  love  of  truth,  justice,  purity,  individual 
initiative,  and  enterprise.  Hence,  as  I  have 
said,  the  movement  is  ethical  in  character  as 
well  as  political  and  intellectual.  And  while  the 
address  of  which  I  have  been  speaking  touched 
the  deeper  aspects  of  the  problems,  there  was, 
nevertheless,  a  failure  to  occupy  the  Christian 
point  of  view  in  one  important  respect.  It  is 
the  point  in  which  Japanese  Christianity  has 
yet  to  take  up  more  advanced  ground.  To  Dr. 
Ebina,  speaking  with  his  nation's  history  be- 


132      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

fore  his  mind,  society  was  the  real  burden  of 
the  individual.  The  complaint  to  which  he  gave 
earnest  expression  was  against  social  tyrannj^ 
The  burden  was  in  the  outward  order,  not  in 
the  inward  will.  This  cry  finds  expression 
often,  indeed,  in  the  Psalms  and  even  in  the  New 
Testament.  "They  have  compassed  me  about 
also  with  words  of  hatred,  and  fought  against 
me  without  cause."  When  Christ  said  that  his 
"yoke"  was  easy,  he  may  have  had  in  mind,  in 
contrast,  the  yoke  of  the  Pharisees,  the  burden 
of  tradition,  and  the  law.  But  the  cry  issuing 
from  the  inmost  depths  of  the  human  soul  is 
the  lamentation  occasioned  by  the  weight  of  sin, 
Paul  was  not  speaking  of  social  bondage,  nor 
was  he  oppressed  by  a  sense  of  the  burden  of 
society,  when  he  cried:  "O  wretched  man  that 
I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of 
this  death?"  It  was  the  weight  of  sin  he  felt. 
He  was  not  personally  free.  "That  which  I  do 
I  allow  not:  for  what  I  would,  that  I  do  not; 
but  what  I  hate,  that  do  I."  It  was  for  this 
reason  he  called  himself  a  slave,  saying:  "I  am 
carnal,  sold  under  sin."  And  it  was  from  this 
bondage  that  deliverance  came  to  which  he  re- 
ferred when  he  exclaimed,  "I  thank  God  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      133 

Tokyo. 
/.  A  Preparatory  Meeting  in  Tohyo, 
On  the  day  the  National  Evangelistic  Cam- 
paign was  inaugurated  union  prayer  meetings 
were  held  in  every  town  and  city  in  which  a 
Christian  congregation  existed.     The  opening 
of  the  campaign  was  followed  by  the  holding 
of   sliuyokwai,    or   preparatory    meetings,    for 
pastors  and  workers.    I  was  invited  to  speak  at 
the  sJiuyokwai  in  Tokyo  on  "The  Intellectual 
Presentation  of  Christianity  to  the  Japanese." 
It  occurred  to  me  that  this  was  a  curious 
subject   on  which  to   speak   at   the  beginning 
of  a  great  evangelistic   campaign;  but   I  had 
learned  to  conform  to  suggestions  made  by  the 
Japanese  and  not,  at  any  rate,  to  put   them 
lightly  aside.     Usually  some  good  reason  lies 
back  of  the  suggestion.     A  national  campaign 
for  a  wider  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  Japan 
could  not  take  for  granted  much  that  would  be 
presupposed  in   a   Christian   community.      An 
apologetic  defense,  for  example,  would  be  more 
necessary  in  a  country  like  Japan  in  order  to 
clear  away   current   objections   and  misunder- 
standing given  circulation  to  by  other  religions 
in  the  field.     Much  exposition  would  also  be 
required  in  view  of  the  presence  of  many  who 


lS4i      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

possessed  no  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures.  This 
work  lays  the  foundation  for  the  direct  evan- 
gelistic message. 

At  the  shuyolcwai  in  Tokyo,  in  discussing  the 
subject  assigned  to  me,  I  saw  an  opportunity 
to  set  up  a  claim  for  an  appreciation  of  Christ 
not  to  be  had  through  intellectual  speculation. 
The  influence  of  Hindu  philosophy  extends 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  Asia, 
one  evidence  of  which  is  the  general  habit  of 
viewing  religion  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
intellectual  consciousness.  This  attitude  of 
mind  has  been  strengthened  by  the  educational 
development  in  modern  Japan.  The  modern 
universities  established  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  exert  a  commanding  Influence.  Even 
the  Christian  propaganda  has  been  most  suc- 
cessful among  the  Intellectual  classes  of  the  na- 
tion. No  small  proportion  of  the  membership 
of  the  Churches  Is  made  up  of  students. 

I  thought  It  might  be  well  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  Christian  theology,  the  intellec- 
tual apprehension  and  expression  of  the  Chris- 
tian verities,  owed  much  to  the  pulpit  and  little 
to  the  chair.  One  needed  only  to  retrace  the 
course  of  Christian  history  to  find  that  the 
great   theologians   were   preachers.      The   men 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      135 

who  had  contributed  the  most  enduring  theo- 
logical ideas  to  the  Church  were,  as  a  rule,  men 
of  large  practical  experience.  They  were  men 
who  had  seen  Christian  truth  put  to  the  test 
or  who  had  witnessed  its  effectual  working  un- 
der the  varied  conditions  of  individual  and  so- 
cial life.  They  were  interpreters,  not  of  ab- 
stract ideas,  but  of  truth  in  experience. 

I  singled  out  the  question  of  the  divinity  of 
Christ,  which  is  the  central  problem  in  Japan, 
in  order  to  give  a  practical  illustration  of  the 
importance  of  experience  as  a  basis  of  a  sound 
theology.  I  did  not  believe  that  the  problem 
of  the  divinity  of  Christ  could  be  solved  in  the 
schools.  Whether  Christ  was  divine  or  not  was 
a  question  to  be  finally  tested  on  the  field  of 
life.  When  Christ  had  been  presented  to  the 
laboring  population,  the  farming  class,  the 
mercantile  community,  and  the  womanhood  of 
the  nation,  and  his  power  had  been  demon- 
strated in  these  various  social  spheres,  then  ma- 
terial would  be  in  hand  on  which  to  base  a  true 
estimate  of  his  person.  It  was  through  his 
presence,  not  only  in  the  individual,  but  in  the 
various  fields  of  social  life,  that  his  true  nature 
became  known.  It  was  not  through  the  forma- 
tion of  abstract  ideas  wrought  out  in  the  clois- 


136     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

ter  as  standards  of  truth  to  which  the  age  must 
be  made  to  conform,  but  in  the  interpretation 
of  life  and  experience  as  affected  by  Christ  that 
a  true  theology  was  to  have  its  source.  It  was 
reasonable,  therefore,  to  look  forward  to  the 
rise  of  a  sound  and  fresh  theology  as  a  result 
of  the  nation-wide  preaching  of  the  gospel  to 
all  classes  of  society  which,  it  was  hoped,  the 
movement  now  launched  would  accomplish.  No 
nation  could  create  its  own  theology  until  a  very 
general  evangelism  had  been  carried  into  effect. 

It  is  only  by  keeping  truth  in  close  contact 
with  life  that  truth  may  be  preserved.  The  re- 
ligion founded  upon  the  Christian  Scriptures 
is  the  only  one  which  has  succeeded  in  over- 
coming the  discrepancy  existing  in  other  reli- 
gions between  popular  religion  and  the  faith 
of  the  learned  few.  Whenever  theology  has  its 
roots  sunk  deep  in  the  popular  experience,  and 
whenever  popular  experience  has  been  perme- 
ated with  the  higher  truths  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, there  has  been  vitality  .in  theology,  while 
popular  religion  has  been  free  from  ignoble  ele- 
ments. Those  who  look  upon  the  struggles  of 
the  early  Christian  centuries  as  being  nothing 
more  than  interminable  controversies  of  a  sub- 
tle description  look  only  upon  the  surface  of 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.     137 

things.     Athanasius  was  unyielding  in  his  con- 
tention for  the  divinity  of  Christ,  not  because 
ot  metaphysical  interests,  but  owing  to  his  firm 
conviction  that  if  the  Church  let  go  its  hold 
upon  the  divine  in  Christ  it  would  relinquish 
the  only  ground  of  hope  for  the  redemption  of 
decaying  Roman  society.    The  Arian  movement 
did  not  have  its  source  in  the  metaphysics  of 
the  schools.     A  lowered  view  of  the  person  of 
Christ  came  to  prevail  as  a  result  of  the  great 
number  of  unregenerate  men  brought  into  the 
Church  following  upon  the  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine.     A  high  view  of  the  person  of  Christ 
cannot  prevail  except  in  a  Christian  community 
permeated  with  the  regenerating  influences  of 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

_  As  I  have  already  said,  I  felt  that  the  sub- 
ject could  be  dealt  with  most  profitably  by 
challenging  the  order  of  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience  in  the  traditional  thought  of  the  East. 
Ihe  highest  experience  is  not  reached  through 
intellection,  but  the  highest  attainment  of  the 
intellect  is  conditioned  upon  experience.  The 
native  Church  in  Japan  is  one  of  the  great,  if 
not  the  greatest,  creations  of  modern  missions 
It  has  passed  through  more  stages  than  the 
Church  on  any  other  mission  field.    Besides  con- 


138     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

quering  its  own  native  environment,  it  has  over- 
come modernism  from  the  West,  the  various 
forms  of  skepticism  prevailing  in  Western 
countries.  But  the  native  Church  has  not  ar- 
rived at  a  full-orbed  conception  of  the  person 
of  Christ;  but  this  problem  is  on  the  way  to 
solution.  As  Christ  more  fully  permeates  Jap- 
anese society  as  a  vital  force,  imbues  daily  life 
with  his  presence,  and  transforms  sentiment 
and  thought  and  conduct,  the  glory  of  his  per- 
son will  become  more  manifest.  The  signs  will 
be  multiplied  as  he  manifests  his  glory,  as  at 
Cana  of  Galilee.  In  other  words,  a  construc- 
tive and  adequate  theology  must  rest  on  foun- 
dations laid  broadly  in  national  life  or  in  the 
life  of  the  race.  By  being  "fruitful  in  every 
good  work"  we  may  "increase  in  the  knowledge 
of  God."  The  Japanese  have  seen  in  Christ 
divine  characteristics.  There  has  been  great 
advance  in  their  apprehension  of  the  personal- 
ity of  God.  The  sense  of  personality  in  them- 
selves, of  the  worth  and  dignity  of  life,  has  been 
immeasurably  enhanced.  The  overthrow  of 
pantheism  is  near  at  hand.  Christians  feel  that 
they  owe  to  Christ  a  distinct  uplift;  they  have 
been  translated  from  darkness  into  light,  ele- 
vated from  a  low  and  natural  plane  to  a  high- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      189 

er,  nobler,  and  more  spiritual  plane  of  living. 
If  there  is  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  Christ  at 
any  point,  it  is  in  an  inadequate  understanding 
of  his  mediatorial  and  redemptive  work.  Now 
that  great  national  evils  perplex  and  trouble 
the  nation,  the  opportunity  is  presented  for  an 
apprehension  of  Christ  from  the  point  of  view 
of  reconciliation  and  redemption.  It  will  be 
discovered  that  in  him,  and  in  him  alone,  the 
problem  of  sin  has  its  solution. 

II.  Preaching  at  Vanity  Fair. 

On  Sunday  evening,  October  4,  my  appoint- 
ment was  to  preach  at  a  Methodist  chapel  in 
that  part  of  the  city  of  Tokyo  known  as  Asa- 
kusa,  which  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  four  most 
densely  populated  wards  of  the  city.  These 
four  wards  constitute  the  "East  End"  of  this 
great  metropolis. 

The  street  car  landed  me  at  Kaminari  Mon, 
or  Thunder  and  Lightning  Gate,  within  a  block 
and  a  half  of  the  Methodist  chapel.  On  alight- 
ing from  the  street  car,  I  was  in  the  heart  of 
one  of  the  world's  greatest  pleasure  resorts. 
Night  had  dropped  down  around  like  a  curtain ; 
but  there  was  a  glamour  to  the  scene,  the  elec- 
tric burners  converting  its  gay  sensuality  into 


140      Campaigning  for  Christ  ifi  Japan. 

a  sort  of  dismal  grandeur.  The  throng  moved 
this  way  and  that,  their  voices  mingling  with 
the  noise  of  music  and  the  rolling  of  wheels. 

The  Vanity  Fair  pictured  to  us  by  John 
Bunyan  was  imaginary,  with  "its  merchandise 
and  delights  and  lusts  of  all  sorts";  its  "jug- 
glers, cheats,  games,  fools,  knaves,  rogues  to 
be  seen  there  at  all  times."  But  the  scene  be- 
fore us  was  not  one  drawn  by  the  imagination ; 
it  was  real,  tragically  real.  A  spell  was  upon 
the  multitudes  who,  enchanted,  moved  rapidly 
toward  the  various  places  of  amusement,  little 
aware  of  their  exposure  to  perils,  though  as 
much  in  danger  as  the  night  flies  which  dance 
about  a  burning  flame. 

Within  a  short  distance  there  were  two 
wo  rid- renowned  institutions — one  the  Asakusa 
Temple  of  the  Buddhist  Tendai  sect  and  the 
other  the  Yoshiwara,  or,  as  some  one  has  called 
it,  the  "Nightless  City."  In  the  heart  of  all 
this  amusement  and  vice  is  the  great  temple  of 
the  Tendai  sect.  This  sect  is  founded  upon 
philosophic  Buddhism;  and  its  criticism  of  the 
New  Testament,  often  reiterated  and  with  far 
greater  emphasis  than  it  protests  against  sin, 
is  that  the  sacred  Book  of  the  Christian  religion 
is  superficial.   It  contains  no  philosoph3^   Bud- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      141 

dhism,  on  the  other  hand,  is  "deep."  To  my 
mind  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  reply  to  the  Bud- 
dhists by  setting  up  a  claim  that  the  New  Tes- 
tament does  contain  a  philosophy.  To  me  there 
is  no  philosophy  in  the  Bible.  It  is  a  Book,  not 
of  abstract  ideas,  but  of  life  and  power. 

Buddhism  indeed  is  "deep."  It  contains  a 
subtle  and  in  some  respects  sublime  philosophy ; 
but  it  has  left  the  masses  under  the  weight  of 
ignorance  and  in  bondage  to  the  world.  It  has 
not  effected  social  reforms.  The  presence  of 
the  great  temple  does  not  purify  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  great  Asakusa  Temple  stands  in 
the  very  heart  of  Vanity  Fair,  and  it  is  not  only 
helpless  in  the  presence  of  the  carnality  that 
goes  on  night  and  day,  but  winks  at  it. 

The  other  institution  which  I  have  mentioned 
is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  forbid  a  discussion  of 
it.  It  is  the  place  where  vice  is  segregated  and 
clothed  in  the  form  of  respectability  and  where, 
according  to  the  government  statistics,  three 
thousand  "white  slaves"  live  in  the  worst  form 
of  human  thralldom.  It  has  been  called  the 
"Nightless  City,"  yet  so  dark  is  it  that  not  the 
dimmest  ray  of  a  single  star  in  the  heavens  falls 
upon  it. 

When  I  left  the  street  car  I  asked  some  one 


142      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

near  by  where  the  "Yaso"  place  was,  this  being 
the  name  for  "Jesus"  among  the  people.  No 
one  seemed  to  know  of  any  "Yaso"  preaching 
place  around  there.  But  a  jinrikisha  man  said 
that  he  could  take  me  there ;  so  I  rode  with  him 
and,  after  entering  a  side  street,  soon  found  in 
a  private  residence  what  was  to  me  a  bright 
spot,  an  oasis  in  the  desert.  A  small  company 
had  already  gathered  and,  under  the  leadership 
of  the  pastor,  were  beginning  the  evening  wor- 
ship. I  felt  a  thrill  of  inspiration  as  the  voices 
of  this  little  company  of  redeemed  men  and 
women  sounded  out  into  the  night  air  the  mel- 
ody of  sacred  song,  singing  a  hymn  which  com- 
menced with  these  words : 

"Weeping  will  not  save  me! 
Though  my  face  were  bathed  in  tears, 
That  could  not  allay  my  fears, 
Could  not  wash  the  sins  of  years. 

When  I  thought  of  the  great  temple,  so  in- 
effectual in  the  midst  of  worldly  pleasure  and 
sin,  and  when  my  thoughts  went  back  to  the 
scene  pictured  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Luke, 
to  the  "woman  in  the  city  which  was  the  sin- 
ner, when  she  knew  that  Jesus  sat  at  meat  in 
the  Pharisee's  house,  brought  an  alabaster  box 
of  ointment,  and  stood  at  his  feet  behind  him 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      143 

weeping,  and  began  to  wash  his  feet  with  her 

tears" — when   my    thoughts    returned   to    this 

great  scene,   the  words   of  the   chorus   of  the 

hymn    never    seemed    more    precious    in    the 

preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  especially  when  the 

congregation  returned  again  and  again  to  the 

refrain : 

Jesus  wept  and  died  for  me; 
Jesus  suffered  on  the  tree; 
Jesus  waits  to  make  me  free. 
He  alone  can  save  me. 

Mr.  Suzuki,  a  pastor  of  one  of  the  Tokyo 
Presbyterian  Churches,  was  my  comrade  in  this 
service.  After  he  had  preached,  it  came  my 
turn.  Over  against  this  scene  of  vain  mirth  and 
wantonness  I  chose  as  my  theme  "The  Chris- 
tian's Joy."  (Rom.  v.  1-11.)  I  spoke  of  the 
rejoicing  of  the  believer  in  the  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God,  of  his  rejoicing  in  tribulation, 
and  of  his  joy  in  God.  I  gave  particular  em- 
phasis to  the  fact  that  this  joy,  the  nature  of 
which  was  not  to  burden  the  pure  life  nor  lead 
to  vanity,  had  its  source  in  right  relation  to 
God  and  freedom  from  a  life  of  sin.  The  con- 
gregation listened  to  both  sermons  with  inter- 
est and  attention.  They  sat  on  the  mats  in 
Japanese  fashion,  though  many  stood  outside, 


144      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

listening  from  the  street.  They  were  too  timid 
to  press  into  a  Christian  preaching  place  and 
probably  too  prejudiced  to  take  a  seat  with  the 
Christian  congregation. 

The  street  on  which  the  chapel  was  located 
was  called  Shoten  Street.  "Shoten"  is  the  name 
of  a  deity  worshiped  near  by,  whose  image  was 
the  head  of  an  elephant  and  the  body  of  a  man. 
This  god  is  worshiped  by  merchants  as  the  god 
of  gain.  His  spirit  seemed  to  pervade  the  at- 
mosphere. Every  booth  and  shop,  and  even 
the  temples  themselves,  seemed  to  have  money 
as  their  object,  the  fleecing  of  the  crowds  that 
thronged  to  that  part  of  the  city. 

The  small  congregation  of  devout  and  faith- 
ful men  and  women  seemed  nothing  over  against 
the  vast  area  occupied  by  a  Buddhist  and  su- 
perstitious population;  but  the  Christian  has 
long  known  what  it  is  to  fight  with  the  minor- 
ity. Our  battle  is  not  determined  by  numbers. 
"One  may  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten 
thousand  to  flight."  As  I  returned  to  the  street 
car  I  felt  a  peculiar  sense  of  gratitude,  even 
an  elation  of  spirit,  that  the  Methodist  banner 
had  been  raised  in  that  part  of  the  city  and 
that  the  challenge  had  been  thrown  down  for 
hand-to-hand   conflict   with  these   strongly  in- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,     145 

trenched    forces    representing    the    world,    the 
flesh,  and  the  devil. 

///.  The  Quaker  Testimony  in  Tokyo, 

On  October  11  I  went  in  the  evening  to 
preach  at  the  Friends'  church,  located  in  the 
Shiba  District,  in  Tokyo.  Most  of  those  in 
attendance  were  young  people.  On  the  premi- 
ses, besides  the  building  in  which  the  congre- 
gation met,  there  were  a  girls'  school  and  two 
or  three  mission  residences. 

The  room  was  well  filled,  though  rain  was 
falling.  The  leader  announced  that  they  would 
bow  their  heads  and  be  led  in  prayer  by  any 
one  whom  the  Spirit  prompted.  After  a  few 
moments  of  waiting,  the  delicate  voice  of  a  fe- 
male could  be  heard  in  the  part  of  the  church 
occupied  by  the  women.  An  earnest  prayer 
was  offered  which  not  only  gave  evidence  of  the 
reality  of  the  faith,  but  also  was  a  witness  to 
the  liberty  Japanese  women  enjoy  through  be- 
coming Christians.  This  prayer  was  followed 
by  that  of  the  leader;  and  after  singing  two  or 
three  hyixms,  the  assistant  pastor  of  the  Fuji- 
micho  Presbyterian  Church  preached.  After 
he  had  gotten  through,  another  hymn  was  sung, 
when  I  took  up  the  theme  and  spoke  for  nearly 
10 


146      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

an  hour.  At  the  close  of  the  service  an  invita- 
tion was  given,  and  a  good  number  decided  to 
enter  the  Way. 

The  Quakers  in  Japan,  led  by  Mr.  Gilbert 
Bowles,  are  true  to  the  traditions  of  their  peo- 
ple in  the  testimony  they  are  giving  in  behalf 
of  peace.  Militarism  in  Japan  has  its  roots 
sunk  deep  in  Japanese  history.  For  a  thousand 
years  the  military  clans  have  been  predominant 
in  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Notwithstanding 
the  immense  growth  of  industrialism  and  edu- 
cation in  recent  times,  the  military  ideal  still 
holds  a  foremost  place. 

In  another  respect  the  spirits  of  descendants 
of  George  Fox  might  well  have  a  word  to  say. 
"The  Life,  Travels,  Sufferinr;>,  Christian  Expe- 
rience, and  Labor  of  Love  in  the  Work  of  the 
Ministry"  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  books 
to  be  found  in  the  English  language.  In  this 
volume  George  Fox,  the  author,  declares  in  one 
place :  "When  the  Lord  sent  me  into  the  world, 
he  forbade  me  to  put  off  my  hat  to  any,  high 
or  low."  How  one  would  welcome  a  reformer 
like  Fox,  who  is  under  the  necessity  of  lifting 
his  hat  many  times  a  day  in  obedience  to  a  pre- 
vailing courtes}^ !  Again  George  Fox  says :  "As 
I  traveled  up  and  down  I  was  not  to  bid  peo- 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      147 

pie  *Good  morrow'  or  *Good  evening,'  neither 
might  I  bow  or  scrape  with  my  leg  to  any  one. 
This  made  the  sects  and  professions  rage."  If 
time  were  not  working  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  people  from  the  weight  of  custom,  one  would 
be  inclined  to  pray  for  a  modern  George  Fox 
to  deliver  Japan.  What  bowing  and  scraping 
and  "good  morrowings"  are  necessary  if  one 
observes  politeness  among  the  Japanese!  But 
the  ceremonials  of  the  ancient  Chow  dynasty  in 
China,  handed  down  to  subsequent  generations, 
are  found  by  men  of  to-day  to  be  too  cumber- 
some for  the  prompt  and  free  movements  of 
life  in  the  modern  world.  The  generation  of 
Japanese  now  coming  into  power  need  no  in- 
centive to  revolt.  They  are  too  ready,  if  any- 
thing, to  rend  the  garment  of  fatal  circum- 
stance and  custom,  the  effect  of  which  in  the 
past,  it  is  now  believed,  has  been  to  stifle  noble 
aspiration  and  to  condemn  life  to  a  meaning- 
less round  of  tedious  monotonies.  Indeed,  the 
fever  of  negation  in  Japan  has  not  taken  on 
a  political  coloring,  but  shows  its  antipathies 
toward  social  customs,  the  complex  network  of 
which  it  would  set  at  naught  in  the  interests  of 
a  life  more  replete  with  impulse,  originality, 
and  adventure. 


148     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

What  a  splendid  location  the  Friends'  Mis- 
sion has  for  its  schools,  its  houses  of  worship, 
and  its  residences  !  Not  far  from  the  Keio  Uni- 
versity, in  the  vicinity  of  Shiba  Park,  and  in 
one  of  the  best  residence  neighborhoods  of 
Tokyo,  the  mission  headquarters  they  have  es- 
tablished give  to  the  missionaries  responsible 
for  this  work  a  great  point  of  advantage  in  the 
capital  of  the  empire. 

IV,  From  a  Buddhist  Carnival  to  a  Christian 
Rally, 

The  next  appointment  in  connection  with  the 
national  campaign  was  during  the  meeting  of 
a  Continuation  Committee  in  Tokyo,  under 
whose  initiative  the  National  Evangelistic  Cam- 
paign was  undertaken.  The  committee,  made 
up  of  representative  Japanese  leaders  and  mis- 
sionaries, held  its  session  during  the  day,  on 
October  13,  and  in  the  evening  there  was  a  rally 
in  the  public  auditorium  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  Fifteen  speakers  '  had 
been  announced,  but  only  five  appeared  when 
the  roll  was  called ! 

A  pastor  once  said  that  he  read  nothing  but 
the  Bible  and  the  daily  newspaper.  He  read 
the  Bible  in   order  to   know  what  the  people 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      149 

should  be,  and  he  read  the  newspapers  in  order 
to  find  out  what  they  really  were.  Better  than 
reading  the  newspapers  is  a  close  and  living 
touch  with  the  people  themselves.  The  night 
before  I  spoke  in  Tokyo  at  the  Christian  rally, 
at  which  a  thousand  Christians  w^ere  present,  I 
had  a  thrilling  experience  in  a  great  Buddhist 
throng.  There  is  a  Buddhist  temple,  called 
Hommonji,  at  Ikegami,  about  three  miles  from 
Omori,  a  suburban  town  next  to  Tokyo.  The 
great  Nichiren  festival  reached  its  height  on 
that  evening.  I  went  with  a  companion  who 
was  interested  in  seeing  the  sights  at  Ikegami. 
We  left  the  railroad  at  Omori.  There  were 
probably  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  peo- 
ple along  the  way  and  within  the  precincts  of 
the  temple.  Through  the  long  street,  lined  with 
shops  and  booths,  the  throng  passed,  those  on 
one  side  of  the  street  going  to  and  those  on  the 
other  side  coming  from  the  temple — a  current 
of  living  beings  moving  in  opposite  directions. 
Bands  of  devotees,  each  carrying  a  great  um- 
brella-shaped float,  followed  each  other  at  in- 
tervals and  were  both  coming  and  going  with 
the  moving  multitude.  Going  before  each  band 
there  was  a  man  advancing  who  held  aloft  a 
pole  which  formed  the  center  of  lighted  silk 


150      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

lanterns  of  various  shapes.  Swinging  these 
hghted  lanterns  from  one  side  to  the  other,  he 
leaped  and  danced  as  he  went  along.  I  was  re- 
minded of  David,  dancing  with  all  his  might 
when  the  ark  came  into  the  city,  and  so  leaping 
and  dancing  as  to  cause  Michal  to  despise  him 
in  her  heart.  Every  Nichiren  Buddhist  had  a 
drum,  which  he  pounded  while  repeating  inces- 
santly the  mystic  prayer  formula  of  the  sect. 

All  along  the  way  traveled  by  the  great  mul- 
titude were  all  kinds  of  intoxicating  liquors  for 
sale  and  things  to  eat  of  every  sort.  If  I  may 
be  indulged  the  use  of  American  slang,  I  would 
say  that  there  was  as  great  evidence  of  "booze" 
as  of  Buddhism.  We  pressed  our  way  along  to- 
ward the  temple  and  were  sometimes  so  closely 
pressed  in  the  crowded  thoroughfare  that  we 
could  scarcely  get  our  breath.  The  noise  in- 
creased as  we  got  nearer  to  the  temple.  The 
bands  supporting  the  floats  would  stop  occa- 
sionally, and  the  men  would  stand  in  a  circle 
around  the  banners,  beating  their  drums  and 
dancing.  Near  the  foot  of  the  hill,  before  as- 
cending the  stone  steps  to  the  temple,  I  heard 
some  one  calling  my  name,  and  on  looking 
around  I  recognized  Bishop  Cecil,  with  two  or 
three  of  his  friends. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,     151 

We  got  together  and,  with  great  difficulty, 
worked  our  way  up  the  flight  of  stone  steps  to 
the  temple.  After  reaching  the  top  of  the  hill 
and  the  temple  grounds,  the  noise  of  the  drums 
and  the  voices  of  the  people  repeating  their 
prayer  formula  were  deafening.  We  felt  that 
we  were  in  the  midst  of  bedlam.  Bands  would 
arrive  at  short  intervals  ;  and  when  they  reached 
the  end  of  their  long  journey  at  the  main  altar, 
their  dancing  and  praying  and  beating  of 
drums  reached  a  state  of  frenzy.  As  they 
leaped  up  and  down  I  thought  that  I  could  al- 
most hear  the  ancient  priests  on  Carmel  crying, 
"O  Baal,  hear  us!"  It  is  said  that  Nichiren 
was  the  only  prophet  in  all  the  past  history  of 
Japan.  He  was  intensely  earnest,  if  not  fanati- 
cal. Here  in  this  multitudinous  noise,  amid  the 
dancing,  praying,  and  frenzied  beating  of 
drums,  one  could  witness  the  influence  of  the 
m.an  whose  zeal  had  reached  across  eight  cen- 
turies of  history. 

Standing  on  the  temple  grounds  and  looking 
down  the  flight  of  steps  and  along  the  crowded 
thoroughfare  stretching  into  the  distance,  the 
procession,  the  floats,  and  the  lanterns  formed 
an  impressive  spectacle.  If  religion  is  a  mat- 
ter of  pageantry,  the  height  attained  here  could 


152     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

scarcely  be  surpassed.  No  one  could  doubt 
that  the  religious  consciousness  was  intensified 
among  these  Nichiren  Buddhists  on  this  occa- 
sion ;  but  all  was  ceremony  and  formality,  show 
and  parade.  A  priest,  clothed  in  brocaded  silk, 
sat  in  the  temple  on  an  elevated  stand.  I  saw 
him  lift  a  portion  of  the  Buddhist  scriptures 
to  his  forehead,  bowing  his  head  at  the  time, 
and  the  entire  congregation  bowed  their  heads 
reverently  at  the  same  time.  But  I  saw  no  evi- 
dence of  preaching,  instruction,  or  exhortation. 
We  descended  the  flight  of  steps,  moving  with 
the  throng.  After  reaching  Omori,  our 
strength  was  almost  exhausted.  We  had  been 
in  a  whirl  and  excitement,  in  the  press  and 
surge  tide,  in  the  movement  of  the  people  go- 
ing and  coming,  and  we  felt  as  if  our  bodies 
had  been  put  through  a  mill. 

When  I  stood  before  the  Christian  audience 
the  following  evening  and  remarked  that  I  had 
been  to  Ikegami  the  night  before,  there  was 
some  surprise.  Intelligent  classes  in  Japan  no 
longer  regard  with  seriousness  these  great  re- 
ligious festivals  of  the  past.  They  connect 
them  with  the  remaining  ignorance  and  super- 
stition. It  was  perfectly  evident  to  us  that 
the   Nichiren    festival   was    patronized   by   the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      1 53 

plain    and    unsophisticated    population.       We 
were  aware  that  such  would  be  the  case  before 
we  went.     Nevertheless,  it  is  good  to  mingle  in 
the  great  mass  movements  of  human  life  and 
catch  something  of  the  spirit  which  animates 
the  people.     Out  of  the  rank  and  file  the  future 
takes  Its  rise.     Jesus  was  interested  in  the  un- 
meanmg  multitudes  and  loved  the  poor.    In  the 
poor  he  saw,  not  an  occasion  for  pity,  but  a 
field  for  rich  spiritual  harvests.    The  mad  gam- 
bols  of  the  superstitious  throng  we  had  wit- 
nessed the  night  before  were  perversions  of  in- 
stincts in  which  lie  hidden  the  thirst  for  immor- 
tahtj  and  aspirations  for  God. 

The    Christian    rally   in   the   Young   Men's 
Christian  Association  hall  was  enterprised  by 
the  Continuation  Committee.    I  called  attention 
to  the  Edinburgh  Conference,  from  which  the 
National  Campaign  and  our  Continuation  Com- 
mittee had  taken  their  origin,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  the  Eucharistic  Congress,  which  met  at 
Montreal  about  the  same  time,  on  the  other. 
Both  were  Ecumenical  Conferences;  both  took 
as  their  keynote  words  from  the  last  conversa- 
tions our  Lord  had  with  the  disciples.    But,  on 
the  one  hand,  religion  was  a  matter  of  forms  'and 
ceremonies  mingled  with  much  superstition;  on 


154      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

the  other,  there  was  a  virile  Christianity  which 
relied  upon  the  preaching  of  the  Word  rather 
than  upon  the  observance  of  a  rite.  I  gave 
forth  my  profound  conviction  that  the  need  of 
Japan  could  be  met  only  by  preaching.  By  the 
prophetic  utterance  alone  could  the  masses  be 
vitalized;  and  the  earnest  application  of  Chris- 
tian truth  to  mind  and  conscience,  heart  and 
will,  was  the  sole  means  to  be  found  for  deliv- 
ering the  multitudes  from  rudimentary  forms 
and  gross  superstitions.  The  Church  can  be 
kept  free  from  the  leaven  of  Baalism  and  Ju- 
daism only  by  means  of  the  Word.  "Ye  are 
clean  through  the  word  which  I  have  spoken 
unto  you."  The  Japanese  have  no  need  of 
ceremony  or  parade  in  religion.  Their  native 
religions  have  become  a  matter  of  feast  days 
and  forms.  Under  the  observance  of  ceremony 
the  religious  and  moral  consciousness  has  sunk 
into  abeyance,  even  as  the  candlelight  swoons 
in  the  atmosphere  of  odorous  incense.  The 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  contended 
against  a  religion  of  shadows  and  forms.  He 
it  was  who  said  that  "the  word  of  God  is  quick, 
and  pow^erful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged 
sword,  piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of 
soul  and  spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow, 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      155 

and  is  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents 
of  the  heart."  It  is  of  such  an  instrument  that 
Japan  is  in  need  at  the  present  time. 

V.  A  Lopsided  State  of  Society, 

One  Sunday  evening  my  appointment  was  to 
preach  in  that  district  of  Tokyo  known  as  Shi- 
buya.  Besides  the  four  densely  populated 
wards  which  constitute  the  "East  End"  and 
which  are  located  on  the  flat  ground  along  the 
Sumida  River,  the  remaining  districts  in  Tokyo 
are  made  up  of  hills  and  constitute  the  resident 
section  such  as  would  be  called  "West  End"  in 
a  modern  American  or  European  city.  It  is  in 
these  eight  or  nine  wards  that  most  of  the  mis- 
sion churches  and  schools  are  to  be  found.  The 
preaching  place  visited  on  the  present  occa- 
sion was  in  this  part  of  the  city,  yet  on  the 
outskirts  where  new  developments  were  taking 
place  in  the  expansion  of  the  residential  dis- 
tricts of  Tokyo. 

We  left  the  street  car  some  distance  beyond 
the  Aoyama  Gakuin,  crossed  the  suburban  rail- 
way tracks,  and  passed  along  the  street  on 
which  we  had  been  told  the  preaching  place 
was  located.  On  our  right  our  attention  was 
attracted  to  a  street  crowd,  gathered  around  an 


156      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

American  missionary  who  was  speaking  bare- 
headed in  the  night  air.  It  was  Rev.  W.  S. 
Woodworth,  at  whose  chapel  the  evening  serv- 
ice was  to  be  held.  His  beard  was  white  with 
age ;  but  with  youthful  spirit  and  zeal  and  with 
freedom  in  the  use  of  the  Japanese  language, 
he  was  preaching  to  the  street  crowd  whose  re- 
spectful attention  he  was  commanding. 

We  found  our  way  to  a  Japanese  residence, 
in  a  quiet  place  a  little  off  the  main  street, 
which  had  been  rented  by  the  American  Chris- 
tian Mission,  of  which  Mr.  Woodworth  was  a 
member,  for  use  in  holding  their  Christian  serv- 
ices. A  Japanese  dwelling  lends  itself  readily 
to  use  as  a  preaching  place.  The  people  sit  on 
the  mats,  so  there  is  no  need  of  chairs.  The 
rooms  are  separated  by  sliding  paper  doors 
which  form  partitions.  These  can  be  easily  re- 
moved, and  the  whole  dwelling  can  be  converted 
into  a  single  room.  The  greater  number  of  the 
leading  congregations  in  Japan,  now  housed  in 
church  edifices,  began  their  history  in  private 
houses.  There  is  a  warmth  of  sociability  in  a 
congregation  meeting  from  week  to  week  under 
such  conditions  which  is  too  often  lost  after 
the  assembly  occupies  a  public  meeting  place 
set  apart  for  the  purpose. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      157 

There  was  a  good  attendance  at  the  service 
of  which  we  are  speaking.  In  fact,  the  room 
was  crowded,  and  the  people  sat  close  together 
on  the  mats.  One  of  the  Japanese  pastors  in 
Tokyo  was  my  fellow  worker  on  this  occasion. 
He  was  a  unique  preacher  among  the  Japanese. 
He  was  quite  unmindful  of  the  formality  so 
strictly  observed  by  Japanese  ministers  in  the 
pulpit.  Frequently  the  audience  would  burst 
into  a  laugh  at  something  he  said.  The  theme 
of  his  discourse  was  the  one-sided  advance 
characteristic  of  the  times.  He  arraigned  soci- 
ety for  its  yielding  to  materialistic  influences, 
for  its  worldly  interests  and  short-sighted 
aims.  He  deplored  the  prevailing  state  of  irre- 
ligion.  Somewhat  after  the  manner  of  Peter 
Cartwright  he  sought  to  give  emphasis  and 
point  to  his  utterances  by  unusual  gestures.  At 
one  stage  in  his  sermon,  for  instance,  he  de- 
clared that  the  Japanese  society  was  lopsided. 
He  paused,  then  began  to  move  the  upper  part 
of  his  body  slowly  to  one  side,  until  it  was  at 
right  angle  with  the  rest  of  his  body  and  his 
head  halfway  to  the  floor.  It  was  a>  curious 
antic ;  and  yet  how  truly  expressive  of  the  state 
of  Japanese  society!  Scarcely  in  the  history 
of  the  race  has  a  nation  become  so  thoroughly 


158      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

absorbed  in  secular  matters  as  has  Japan  dur- 
ing the  past  fifty  years.  Fortunately,  there  is 
a  general  recognition  at  the  present  time  of  the 
importance  of  bringing  up  the  other  side,  of 
developing  the  spiritual  nature  of  man,  in  or- 
der that  the  nation  may  regain  the  true  equi- 
poise of  life. 

VI.  A  Buddhist  Priest  Converted  Because  a 
Christian  Scrubbed  His  Back. 

On  Sunday  evening,  November  1,  my  ap- 
pointment in  Tokyo  was  at  the  Takanawa 
church,  a  Presbyterian  congregation.  It  is 
what  we  would  call  a  college  church,  it  being 
the  place  where  the  faculty  and  students  of  the 
Meji  Gakuin  worship,  where  Dr.  K.  Ibuka,  Dr. 
William  Imbrie,  Dr.  T.  M.  McNair,  Mr.  J.  C. 
Ballagh,  and  others  well  known  attend  Chris- 
tian service.  We  found  the  church  well  filled, 
though  the  weather  was  not  favorable.  Rev. 
K.  Imai,  of  the  Baptist  Church,  was  my  fellow 
speaker. 

In  his  sermon  Mr.  Imai  told  the  story  of  his 
conversion  from  Buddhism.  He  had  been  a 
priest  of  the  Shingon  sect.  There  is  some  sig- 
nificance, therefore,  in  the  passage  of  Scripture 
chosen  by  him  for  his  text  reminiscent  of  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      159 

past.     His  text  was  the  verse :  "Woe  unto  jou, 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for  ye  are 
like  unto  whited  sepulchers,  which  indeed  ap- 
pear beautiful  outward,  but  are  within  full  of 
dead    men's    bones,    and    of    all    uncleanness." 
(Matt,  xxiii.  27.)     He  was  first  attracted,  he 
said,  by  a  group  of  Christian  young  men  who 
were  praying  and  singing  on  the  corner  of  the 
street  and  inviting  the  people  to  come  to  the 
preaching  service  at  a  church  near  by.     This 
was  when  he  was  a  Buddhist  priest,  and  he  con- 
fessed that  he  was  impressed  with  the  earnest- 
ness of  these  Christian  young  men.     The  sec- 
ond   manifestation    of    Christian    earnestness 
about  which  he  told  was  when  he  was  in  the 
public  bath.     A  young  man  surprised  him  by 
volunteering  to  scrub  his  back.     He  said  that 
the  young  man  could  not  have  known  that  he 
was  a  priest,  for  his  robes  were  hung  up  in  the 
lockers.     It  was  the  spirit  prompting  the  cup 
of  cold  water,  or  rather  the  washing  of  one 
another's  feet,  that  made  an  impression  on  him. 
Again,  he  heard  Christian  preaching,  his  curios- 
ity and  interest  having  reached  a  point  suffi- 
cient to  lead  him  to  seek  a  closer  contact  with 
the  Christians.     He  attended  a  public  evangel- 
istic service  at  the  Shinko  Club,  in  Kobe.    There 


160      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

he  heard  Rev.  T.  Mijagawa  on  "The  Soul  of 
Man"  and  Dr.  J.  H.  De  Forest  on  "Christian 
Sacrifice."  These  discourses  were  a  revelation 
to  him  of  aspects  of  Christianity  he  had  not 
known.  He  heard  others  preach  the  Christian 
gospel,  and  soon  a  struggle  came  on  in  his  soul, 
and  this  in  turn  led  to  a  break  with  his  religion 
and  his  past  associations.  He  thought  at  first 
that  he  would  remain  a  Buddhist  and  embody 
the  good  teachings  he  had  learned  from  Chris- 
tians into  his  religious  life.  But  it  so  hap- 
pened that  one  of  the  Christian  sermons  he  had 
heard  was  on  the  text:  "Neither  do  men  put 
new  wine  into  old  bottles  ;  else  the  bottles  break, 
and  the  wine  runneth  out,  and  the  bottles  per- 
ish; but  they  put  new  wine  into  new  bottles, 
and  both  are  preserved."  This  text  made  clear 
to  him  the  way  that  he  should  follow.  He  did 
not  believe  that  the  new  wine  could  be  con- 
tained in  the  old  bottles.  He  pictured  the  per- 
secutions and  the  srufferings  brought  on  as  a 
consequence  of  his  renunciation  of  the  Buddhist 
religion.  He  rejoiced  that  he  had  been  led  out 
into  the  light  himself  and  that  a  number  of  his 
relatives  had  followed  him  into  the  faith. 

The  Christian  Literature  Society  has  pub- 
lished a  small  book  in  which  an  account  of  the 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      161 

conversion  of  this  man  is  told  by  himself.  As 
the  frontispiece,  there  is  a  picture  of  Mr. 
Imai  in  his  Shingon  robes,  in  a  garment  of  beau- 
tiful brocaded  silk,  with  a  hood  and  cape  at- 
tached, coming  down  over  the  shoulders.  By 
the  side  of  this  is  a  picture  of  Mr.  Imai  as  a 
Christian  pastor.  He  appears  in  a  foreign 
suit,  with  black  Prince  Albert  coat,  and  there 
is  a  certain  humanity  in  his  appearance  which 
one  looks  for  in  vain  in  the  vacant  face  of  the 
former  picture.  This  volume  is  being  widely 
read  and  has  become  the  means  of  turning  many 
to  the  study  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Mr.  Imai's  sermon  was  intensely  interesting 
and  very  effective,  but  too  long-drawn-out. 
Kipling  says,  "East  is  east,  and  west  is  west" ; 
but  this  is  not  true  where  it  is  a  matter  of  en- 
croaching upon  one  another's  time.  The  hour 
was  so  late  when  Mr.  Imai  completed  his  story 
that  I  caught  up  a  sentence  from  his  sermon 
in  which  he  spoke  of  his  astonishment  when  he 
read  in  the  words  of  Christ:  "Blessed  are  they 
that  mourn."  This  is  a  sorrowful  world  to  the 
Buddhist,  a  world  of  fleeting  shadows  and  bit- 
ter disappointments,  a  world  essentially  of  suf- 
fering. Buddhism  has  seen  no  blessing  in  pain 
and  pronounces  no  beatitude  on  suffering. 
11 


162      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

This  thought,  I  felt,  might  well  be  elaborated. 
For  ten  minutes  I  gave  emphasis  to  the  gospel 
which  could  say  to  men:  "Rejoice  in  tribula- 
tion." Christianity  is  a  religion  of  the  cross.  It 
sees  more  deeply  and  more  correctly  the  trage- 
dy of  human  existence  than  does  Buddhism ;  but 
it  is  the  only  religion  which  sings.  Under  its 
gracious  dispensation,  instead  of  the  thorn 
there  comes  up  the  fir  tree,  and  instead  of  the 
brier  there  comes  up  the  myrtle  tree.  "It  is 
appointed  unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion  to 
give  unto  them  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy 
for  mourning,  the  garment  of  praise  for  the 
spirit  of  heaviness;  that  they  might  be  called 
trees  of  righteousness,  the  planting  of  the  Lord, 
that  he  might  be  glorified." 

At  the  close  of  the  service  the  pastor,  Mr. 
Osaka,  called  for  decisions  and  had  blank  cards 
distributed  to  the  audience  for  the  inquirers  to 
sign.    There  were  many  responses  to  his  call. 

VIL  The  Mayor  of  Tokyo  on  the  Need  of 
"Spiritual  Civilization." 

Each  reign  in  Japanese  history  bears  its  own 
title.  The  long  reign  of  the  late  Emperor, 
which  began  in  1868,  was  called  Meiji,  or  En- 
lightened  Era.      The   present   reign   is    called 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan.      163 

Taisho,  or  Great  Righteousness.  The  title 
chosen  for  the  present  reign  may  be  said  to 
express  national  aspiration.  During  the  late 
reign  Western  civilization  was  introduced.  It 
was  indeed  an  era  of  enlightenment.  But  the 
Japanese  feel  the  need  of  greater  ethical  ad- 
vance. They  are  hoping  that  the  rule  under 
the  present  Emperor  may  have  righteousness 
as  its  outstanding  feature. 

In  honor  of  the  present  Emperor  and  to  cel- 
ebrate the  beginning  of  his  reign  a  national  ex- 
position was  enterprised,  to  be  held  in  Uyeno 
Park,  Tokyo.  Magnificent  buildings  were 
erected,  and  various  products  of  soil  and  fac- 
tory were  exhibited.  It  was.  indeed  a  creditable 
display,  considering  the  short  period  during 
which  Japan  had  shared  with  the  West  its  in- 
dustrial advance. 

The  Christian  bodies  having  churches  in 
Tokyo,  under  a  union  committee,  sought  to 
take  advantage  of  the  occasion  for  a  wider 
spread  of  Christian  ideas.  The  National  Evan- 
gelistic Campaign  was  now  in  progress,  and 
with  the  aid  given  by  the  Campaign  Committee 
the  local  committee  in  Tokyo  was  able  to  secure 
a  footing  near  the  entrance  to  the  exposition 
grounds.     Everything  was  preempted  at  a  high 


164     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

price ;  so  the  Christians,  in  order  to  hold  meet- 
ings, were  compelled  to  use  a  storeroom  for 
their  services.  On  Sunday  afternoon  the  open- 
ing service  was  held,  and,  according  to  custom, 
invitations  were  sent  to  the  officials.  The  little 
storeroom  was  crowded  to  its  capacity.  Many 
present  were  from  the  remotest  interior  of  the 
country.  The  members  of  the  committee  were 
present,  and  Rev.  H.  Hoshino,  a  Presbyterian 
pastor,  and  Colonel  Yamamuro,  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army,  were  the  preachers  for  the  occasion. 
The  usual  practice  among  officials  is  to  send  a 
shuJcuhun,  or  letter  of  congratulation,  written 
in  high  literary  style.  When  the  proper  time 
comes,  this  is  read  by  an  assistant  sent  from  the 
office  of  the  official  who  is  the  author  of  the 
congratulatory  letter. 

But,  to  our  surprise,  Baron  Sakatani  ap- 
peared in  person  and  accepted  a  seat  on  the 
platform.  He  listened  with  great  attention  to 
two  very  earnest  sermons.  When  called  upon 
for  words  of  congratulation,  instead  of  read- 
ing a  shukubun  he  gave  an  earnest  address. 
The  mayor,  though  not  a  Christian,  is  a  man 
of  fine  character,  broad  sympathies,  and  ideal- 
istic tastes.  No  official  in  Japan  is  held  in 
higher  esteem  by   the   Euporean   community. 


Campaigning  for  Christ  m  Japan,      165 

His  words  on  this  occasion  were  listened  to  with 
great   interest.      He   pointed   to   the   splendid 
buildings  on  the  exposition  grounds  and  said 
that  our  preacliing  place  presented  a  very  un- 
favorable contrast  to  these.     The  exhibits  in 
the  exposition  building  were  the  pride  of  Ja- 
pan, representing,  as  they  did,  remarkable  ma- 
terial advance.     But  he  had  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  what  we  presented  was  of  far  great- 
er significance  and  importance  than  anything 
else  forming  a  part  of  the  exposition.     Spirit- 
ual realities  were  the  need  of  the  times.     In 
these   things   the   development   of   Japan   had 
fallen  far  behind  the  rate  of  progress  in  ma- 
terial   things.      His    sincere    desire    was    that 
Christians    in   their   efforts   would   succeed   in 
awakening  an  interest  in  religion  among  those 
who  came  to  attend  the  exposition.    He  hoped 
that  "spiritual  civilization"  would  be  greatly 
furthered  during  the  Taisho  reign. 

By  "spiritual  civilization"  the  mayor  of 
Tokyo  did  not  have  in  mind  the  pure  worship 
of  God,  freed  from  the  polytheism  and  idolatry 
practiced  in  the  past.  He  was  speaking  rather 
from  the  standpoint  of  his  Confucian  training 
and  as  an  ethical  idealist,  with  an  accent  added, 
truly  Christian  in  spirit,  as  to  the  vital  impor- 


166      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

tance  of  religion.  There  is,  indeed,  a  feeling  in 
Japan  that  the  mythology,  the  polytheism,  the 
idolatry  long  practiced  and  still  in  vogue 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  are  a  weight 
upon  the  nation.  But  the  conviction  prevails, 
a  latent  conviction,  that  these  anachronisms 
will  be  thrown  off  by  the  forces  of  enlighten- 
ment, education,  and  culture  at  work  now  in 
Japanese  society.  A  man  occupying  a  place  in 
national  affairs,  like  that  of  Baron  Sakatani,  is 
more  concerned  to  see  spiritual  ideals  made 
dominant  in  the  face  of  the  prevailing  material- 
ism and  worldliness. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  twofold  problem  confront- 
ing Japan,  the  solution  of  which  will  go  far  in 
determining  the  future  destiny  of  the  nation. 
There  is,  first  of  all,  the  moral  problem.  Thir- 
ty years  ago  statesmen  in  Japan  had  before 
their  minds  in  vision  a  great  secular  State,  for 
the  establishment  of  which  they  were  deter- 
mined to  pursue  an  enlightened  and  modern 
policy.  They  were  going  to  create  a  State  in 
which  religion  would  not  occupy  an  indispen- 
sable place.  Western  countries,  they  believed, 
were  gradually  eliminating  religion  in  favor  of 
science  and  secularism ;  so  why  should  they  rec- 
ognize the  necessity  of  religion  in  the  program 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,     16t 

iaid  out  for  the  new  Japan?  This  was  the 
spirit  controlling  the  minds  of  national  lead- 
ers until  a  few  years  ago.  But  a  marked 
change  of  opinion  has  taken  place;  a  very  dif- 
ferent attitude  toward  religion  as  an  element  in 
national  life  now  is  manifested  by  responsible 
statesmen.  The  prevailing  secularism  has  been 
productive  of  social  evils,  the  rise  of  which  was 
not  foreseen,  but  the  menace  of  which  has  been 
the  occasion  of  sober  reflection  as  to  national 
foundations  deeper  than  those  laid  by  science 
and  education.  As  a  cure  for  current  skepti- 
cism, vice,  dishonesty,  unrest,  and  irreverence, 
it  is  felt  that  a  heroic  remedy  alone  can  be  ef- 
fective. Many  are  looking  hopefully  to  the 
Christian  religion  at  this  time.  The  conviction 
is  felt  that  the  vital  power  of  this  religion  is 
sufficient  to  arrest  the  downward  trend  and  to 
solve  the  nation's  moral  problem. 

But  there  is  a  second  question.  It  is  the 
problem  of  national  optimism.  The  pressure 
of  this  question  is  not  felt;  it  arises  only  when 
the  final  outcome  of  the  present  awakening 
is  reflected  upon  by  those  who  see  things  in 
their  ultimate  issues.  It  is  true  that  a  j^outh- 
fulness  seems  to  have  returned  to  this  nation, 
the  history  of  which  stretches  across  many  cen- 


168      Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan. 

turies  and  the  fields  of  which  have  been  plowed 
with  innumerable  furrows  and  made  golden 
with  the  return  of  countless  harvests.  Fifty 
years  ago  the  nation  was  apathetic  and  inert. 
Charged  now  with  the  great  work  of  progress, 
feeling  the  need  of  various  improvements  and 
reforms,  and  looking  for  paths  of  political  and 
industrial  adventure,  Japan  seems  to  have 
thrown  off  completely  the  dormant  fatalism. 
The  sap  of  life  seems  to  rise  and  even  to  over- 
flow with  energy  and  enthusiasm.  The  music 
in  the  minor  key,  with  the  plaintive  notes  of 
which  Buddhism  brought  solace  to  the  old  Ja- 
pan, no  longer  pleases  and  no  longer  prevails; 
or,  if  it  still  prevails,  its  strains  are  dying  away 
like  the  last  faint  and  ebbing  sobs  of  the  temple 
bells,  rung  as  day  sinks  into  night. 

But  is  there  ground  for  hope  that  this  move- 
ment will  become  permanent  or  that  optimism 
will  replace  the  traditional  tendency  to  see  life 
with  the  shadows  upon  it?  If  there  be  nothing 
more  satisfying  than  worldly  prospects,  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  Japan  will 
grow  weary  of  the  game  of  life.  If  the  human 
heart  be  compelled  to  seek  its  consolations  in 
nothing  more  than  increase  of  wealth  and  na- 
tional glory,  or  even  in  knowledge,  it  will  not  be 


Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan,      169 

long  until  the  soul  will  seek  to  beguile  the  hours 
awaj  with  dreams  of  some  distant  Nirvana,  in 
which  the  delusions  of  the  day  fade  away  as  in 
the  darkness   of  the  night.     If  the  world  be 
without   significance  and  life  without  a  goal, 
what  else   can  be  reasonably  expected  as   the 
outcome  of  human  striving?    Without  some  en- 
during prospect,  the  shadows  will  return  as  life 
advances,  even  as  the  color  of  the  Japanese 
morning-glory  deepens  from  day  to  day.     All 
the  striving  of  the  present  time  may  turn  out 
to  be  a  mere  unconscious  reaching  out  after 
something,  the  working  of  a  blind  impulse  at 
the  heart  of  the  world,  such  as  Buddhist  philos- 
ophy had  already  interpreted  in  its  condemna- 
tion of  existence.    But  once  discover  that  near 
man's  deepest  strivings  there  is  the  Spirit  who 
helpeth    his    infirmities    and   with   inarticulate 
groanings   frames    mute   human   impulses   and 
aspirations  into  a  prayer  and  brings  human  in- 
tercessions into  accord  with  the  will  of  God, 
then  the  world-will  is  no  longer  blind,  but  is  il- 
luminated with   significance   and   becomes   the 
ground  of  rejoicing  and  hope.     We  are  then 
no  longer  condemned  to  a  meaningless  striving, 
"not  knowing  what  to  pray  for  as  we  ought." 
We  are  assured  that  the  mysterious  impulse  at 


170     Campaigning  for  Christ  in  Japan, 

the  heart  of  the  world,  guided  by  the  infinite 
Spirit,  issues  in  sonship  and  ultimate  triumph. 
To  lay  this  deeper  foundation  of  national  hope 
and  optimism  by  bringing  our  message  of  good 
tidings  of  faith  and  hope  to  the  multitudes  in 
Japan  is  the  task  to  which  we  as  Christians  are 
called. 


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